Look what bubbled up!
January 29, 2024, is not just the day we get to wake up knowing who will play in the Superbowl. (Rest up, Chiefs and 49ers!) It’s also National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day. If you’ve been subscribed to STARTISTRY since last year, you should not be blindsided by this.
Review: Why do we appreciate bubblewrap? Let me help you count the ways.
Bubble wrap can be used to make art – by using it as material, or as a tool. Careful. Bubble wrap + rolling pin + paint is almost more fun than a 5-year-old or a 50-year-old can stand.
Bubble wrap can protect your plants from cold temperatures.
It can protect YOU from cold temperatures.
Popping bubble wrap can reduce stress, anxiety and muscle tension. In fact, studies have shown that sometimes the human brain receives feel-good chemicals like dopamine after popping bubble wrap.
One time my daughter wrapped her best friend in bubble wrap and pushed her down the stairs (aided by her high school basketball team).
Finally, just speaking for myself, the #1 favorite reason to appreciate bubble wrap is: NOBODY had the idea to start BUBBLE WRAP! Not until they started something else, that is. Bubble wrap was created BY ACCIDENT! Read the whole story here.
So join me in celebrating the thrilling stARTistic miracles of all the things that started as one thing and finished as something else. From page 138 of Start More Than You Can Finish, here are my favorites.
“Bubble wrap never had a place on anyone’s “Things to Start” list. Two designers bumped into the idea when they set out to make textured wallpaper. Here are six more successes that stARTed as failures.
Teflon was invented in the 1930s by a twenty-seven-year-old trying to create a nontoxic refrigerant. Years later, Marion Trozzolo put it on frying pans.
Post-Its started as a high-strength glue. (Celebrate Positive Post-It Day on the 5th of October.)
Play-Doh started as wallpaper cleaner. National Play-Doh Day is September 16.
The Slinky was invented when a mechanical engineer, designing a device to secure cargo on ships, spilled coiled wires on the floor. He saw them tumble playfully, end over end. Next stop, toy shop! Read the whole springy story here. Celebrate National Slinky Day on August 30.
Coca-Cola began as a treatment for morphine addiction, headaches, and anxiety. National Have a Coke Day is May 8.
Listerine got its start as a cure for gonorrhea.
Oops, we’ve taken a gritty turn here. You get the picture. When we set an idea in motion, we start a loopy, never-ending coil of possibilities.
Start something, bump into something else.”
Every start makes somebody’s day!
As you celebrate Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, think about this. Somebody had the IDEA to START a Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day…then they actually DID it! Now THAT is a stARTistic someone who didn’t overthink an idea – and who didn’t have buzzkill friends to talk them out of perfectly stupid fun ideas.
Don’t wait for someone else to tell you what to appreciate. Make your own day!
If you want to start A DAY, you should absolutely DO IT!
Start by making sure it doesn’t already exist. Find all the days and the people who love them on the National Day Calendar.
To reach your stARTistic potential, you will have to take your ideas out of the bubble wrap. You’ll have to haul off and make your own crappy first draft, messy first sketch, or botched first prototype.
If you want to start more things, have more fun and leave more of your amazingness in the world, I wrote a book just for you. LEARN ABOUT THE BOOK HERE!