Bubbles & Escapes

Metaphorically speaking…

I would define a bubble as the scope of reality that you are sensitised by.

Meaning that if you’re living inside a bubble, your sensitivity is bound by whatever exists within the bubble, and you’re desensitised to whatever lies outside of it. 

Under this definition, every single one of us would be living inside a bubble. In fact, many different bubbles. Whereby anything outside of that bubble has very little emotional effect. 

For example, your country could be classed as a geographical bubble. For many in the world, another country being in flames, has little emotional effect on them. Especially their day to day wellbeing. Their own reality is still stable, so they’d deem it excessive to erupt in anger or mourn another country’s loss. They’re only sensitised to that within their bubble. Their country.

And bubbles can overlap. For example, let’s consider someone who is emotionally affected when another country is in flames, but not because they care about the country’s people, rather that their business is affected by international trade. That would mean their scope of sensitivity is money. They’re only sensitised to other countries to the extent that it affects their direct income. Though that isn’t to say either of these examples are representatives of you or me. 

What I will say however is that good or bad, the scope of reality you operate within is extremely important. And being able to narrow and expand that scope when needed, is a super power. 

When a world class boxer is in a championship fight, they can’t afford to be emotionally affected by anything outside of the fight. Not by some haters in the crowd, not by their favourite celebrity who showed up to watch, not by their ex who cheated on them last week. They can’t allow anything to disrupt their focus. So they enter a mental bubble where only the fight matters. 

For that moment in time, that fight is their life. Nothing before matters, nothing after matters. And their feelings are in turn shaped only by their experiences within that bubble. In other words, any form of winning in that fight, feels like they’re winning at life. And that’s the super power. To choose the parameters in which you assess your own wellbeing. To set your own boundaries of what matters in certain moments. To maximise focus. 

The same occurs when a musician is performing on stage. As chaotic as their lives may be off stage, they can enter a mental bubble whereby the stage and the crowd is all they know. All they’re sensitised by. They can be suffering a world of trauma behind closed doors, but feel euphoric and full of life on stage. Sure, some are only putting on an act, but others can genuinely feel on top of the world when they’re on that stage. The stage becomes their life and in turn, life feels good. Of course, until that bubble bursts. 

And when you think about it, that’s really how an escape works. Though the word ‘escape’ suggests you’re going outside of something, it’s kind of the opposite. You’re actually narrowing down what you care about. And when considering how limited our capacity is, and how overwhelming life can be, it’s no surprise that people want to narrow the scope. To have a moment of isolation from the weight of the world. 

Going back to my initial example of geographical bubbles. Imagine if you were to cry for every death that occurred outside of your country, heck even within your country, your city. You would be crying all day. The reason we operate in bubbles is because our emotional capacity is limited. Our cognitive capacity is limited. And if we’re overwhelmed, we’ll shut down. So we have to be selective with what we care about, and the extent to which we care about it. For emotional regulation. Again, that isn’t to say you shouldn’t care about the world around you. But to be intentional about the amount of information you take in, and how you’re taking it. When you’re taking an exam, you can’t afford to think deeply about anything that’s not on that test paper. That doesn’t change the fact there’s many more things worth caring about.

With focus, you can intentionally remove the amount of layers that you’re sensitised to. Allowing you to shape a healthier escape from reality. Because an escape isn’t to leave, it’s to dictate how far your reality goes. That’s the key. 

So that when you go to the theatres or the cinema, you’re no longer thinking about your insecurities, or the fact you have work the next day, or what you’ll eat later. You’re suddenly only emotionally invested in whatever goes on in that movie. It’s a much more inner layer. One far closer to you at the centre. Within that layer only you, your popcorn, the sounds, and those around you exist. Whenever you’ve got the flu, nothing outside of food, medicine and water matters. You suddenly don’t care about what you’ll do for your ‘career’. Only the most inner layers matter. 

You can cut-off a layer of reality, make it inaccessible, and submit to the vibes of your bubble, as if it’s your whole reality. As if it starts and ends there. Like a character in a show or game. Your mood, your vibe, your feeling. To find happiness within a scope of your life because as far as your brain is aware, that IS your life. 

Of course, the other side of this is never to stay in your bubble. Live too long within a certain scope, and you’ll completely lose touch with reality. That’s how the rich live. That’s how the healthy live. The moment you forget you’re living in the bubble, the harder it’ll hit when it bursts. You must be strategic about when, how and why you shut off the outer layers.  

Always be aware of the scope you’re existing within. Identify the layers of reality you’re unnecessarily carrying the weights of, and the layers of reality you’re unnecessarily turning a blind eye to. How many layers are you taking on right now?