Start Popping Bubblewrap
There's A Day For That
January 30, 2023, is National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day.
If you’re blindsided by this and have made other plans, mark your calendar for the last Monday of January next year so you can get a jump on it.
Ideas to start
Here’s something to think about besides how much we appreciate bubble wrap: 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.
But here’s the popper…NOBODY had the idea to start BUBBLE WRAP! Not until they started something else, that is. Read the whole story here. That’s what I’m really celebrating – the thrilling stARTistic miracles of all the things that started as one thing and finished as something else.
Page 138 of Start More Than You Can Finish highlights my favorites.
Bumping into Bubble Wrap
“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.
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. National Slinky Day is 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.”
Alas, there’s no National Listerine Day…
but there’s a National Fresh Breath Day (August 6). (Holy halitosis, only ONE DAY? Okey dokey.)
If you want to start A DAY, be sure it doesn’t already exist. Find all the days and the people who love them on the National Day Calendar.
Now, back to celebrating bubble wrap!
Here are my favorite things about it:
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). I popped bubble wrap for two hours after hearing this story.
And, of course, bubble wrap can wrap stuff, like really good books.
You, too, can start more.
If you want to start more things, have more fun and leave more of your amazingness in the world, get started BY LEARNING ABOUT THE BOOK HERE!