In December of 2020, We were all living in a “bubble” in order to manage the risk of contracting COVID. For some. living in this physical social bubble lead to loneliness and depression. For others, it can lead to searching out new ways to connect and interact. It creates an opportunity to develop and grow themselves. There were individuals who created new businesses and opportunities all from living in their own bubble. They learned “how to thrive in your own bubble”. Let’s learn from this experience! We can create our own bubble at any time.
In July of 2018, a psychcentral article called out people living in their own bubble as negative- meaning unwilling to hear the perspective of others and being committed to being right. How ironic that in 2020 living in a bubble socially is what we are all being asked to do for our physical well-being and health?
How do we fight that?
First suggestion:
To live a full life, remember the lessons of kindergarten; Play well with others. Playing well with others means EVERYONE. None of us can afford to reject people based on an initial judgment.
Judgements
We all make judgments all the time, these are two-dimensional snapshots that we either release and look deeper or cling to in defence. we walk through life unconsciously categorizing people into man, woman, androgynous, white, yellow, brown, black, smart, dumb, rich, poor, republican, democrat, narcissist, pushover, etc. Sometimes we are more conscious of this process, other times less so. Take a look at the filters you are using and ask yourself, how much are they really helping me? In kindergarten, kids were kids for the most part. We gave everyone a chance until they proved themselves a threat.
Social Bubble
The problem with living in your own social bubble is it’s boring. Now is the time to tear down the barriers socially because we can do it through social media where we are much safer. we can hang up, turn off, and click out any time we want so let’s go out and explore.
Seek to be challenged!
Not like a throwdown challenge, but challenge your own preconceptions and judgments by pushing on them. We can start online and work our way out to in person life. This was a recipe that worked with insane success for folks in the pandemic.
Triggered!
Beware of being triggered. Inevitably when we push on our unconscious beliefs, some part of us gets PO’d! The good news is we can now give ourselves a virtual time out and take a good look at what in fact we are triggered by. After all, not only are others allowed to be different than us in their choices and how they live, but life would be super boring, perhaps even oppressive if everyone were the same. Learn to deal with disagreement!
Benefits of Getting To Know “Different”
The huge benefit of hanging with folks not quite like what we are used to is that we will inevitably be exposed to new ideas in the process. New ideas in and of themselves will challenge us in ways that are exciting, scary, or perhaps provoke anxiety. These are three very similar feelings and the feeling itself may even be open to interpretation- meaning, we may decide that a little anxiety or fear can actually be experienced as excitement if we so choose.
New Ideas
As we meet new ideas or ones that are even contrary to what we believe, we can either reject them in anger- an ever-popular reaction- or we can put our triggered reaction in check and exchange views gently and with respect for the other person’s point of view.
It is virtually impossible for any person, short of being God, to be absolutely right all the time. That is true for everyone reading this piece. That in itself makes it worthwhile to listen to other people’s perspectives as judgment-free as possible.
If all of our friends are just like us and believe exactly what we believe then we have basically created a clique just like we might have hated in high school.
GO BACK TO KINDERGARTEN.
The Next Year Challenge
For the next year go outside of your social bubble. Look for groups on social media that you might be reluctant to join and check them out. Hang out with people of different spiritual beliefs. Hang out with different races, sexes, and anything that pushes on your sense of normal.
Join a workshop way outside of your comfort zone. Next, observe your reaction. Talk to folks about your reaction in an objective way. Look for the kind of person that sees things differently than you do. Are they someone you would feel safe around? If not how much do you reframe your perspective? The opportunity here is to expand your thinking, and your mindset, to come out of the physical bubble in 2021 ready to embrace difference.
Take this challenge and you will begin to learn the secret of how To thrive in your own bubble