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We Live in bubbles; In traps of familiarity

drfarrell5

I had a conversation with a client about the invisible walls we build around our lives—patterns, limitations, and comfort zones that define who we are and how we live, even as they keep us feeling stuck, unfulfilled, and disconnected from our potential.


I described it as living within a bubble—a small, suffocating bubble. This bubble represents our persona, our tightly held beliefs about who we can and cannot be. It’s more than just how we are; it’s about how we must be. It’s the endless need to prove ourselves, to justify why we feel stuck, why we stay in our frustrations, why real change feels impossible. Brief moments outside this circle—through entertainment, substances, or distractions—offer glimpses of freedom, but they are fleeting. This, I believe, is a key aspect of what I call the Rational Fortress.


As fragile as this bubble is, it still exerts a powerful gravitational pull that keeps drawing us back in, and the years slip by. We fill our time with distractions and, still, underneath we feel incomplete, trapped, and insecure. Our lives become a series of checklists—tasks and goals we feel compelled to do, not because they fulfill us, but because checking them off gives us a fleeting sense of control.


Inside this bubble are the unspoken rules: how to be good, how to be accepted, how to avoid judgment, how to avoid pain. It’s about not bursting the bubble—never saying or doing anything that might upset our carefully constructed life within our bubble, even when that bubble is suffocating us. This is anti-freedom. It’s the safety of the known, but it’s also the prison of the familiar.


Living in the Bubble: The Safe Danger

The bubble is dangerous. It keeps us small. It blinds us to what’s possible when we step outside of it or burst it. The safety of routine, of sameness, of knowing what to expect, becomes its own kind of peril. We navigate our days in predictable patterns, engaging in the same safe conversations, enduring the same gradual decline of our bodies, and responding to our ailments as if they are inevitable. We cling to the belief that our lives had to unfold this way—that our pain, our frustrations, our limitations were unavoidable. This belief protects us from facing our own shadows, from confronting both the darker parts of ourselves and the brilliance that we’ve been conditioned to hide.


The bubble’s safety is deceptive. It keeps us living from one perspective, one narrow worldview, convinced that our way of being is the only way. It shuts down curiosity, divides us from others, and keeps us locked in fear of what’s different or unfamiliar. This is not just dangerous—it’s tragic. It stifles personal evolution, squashes real questions, and locks us into a life of unexamined ideas, fears, and assumptions. The bubble convinces us that stepping out, experimenting, and embracing the unknown is reckless, when in reality, staying put is far riskier. It robs us of the vibrant, heart-pumping, fear-embracing experiences that make us feel truly alive.


Breaking Free: Embracing the Unknown

The antidote to this bubble is to mindfully and courageously step out of it. It’s dangerous, exhilarating, and liberating all at once. It’s about confronting those illusions that keep us small—the fears, the judgments, the “shoulds”—and realizing they are simply veils that appear real and solid. They keep us stuck. Stepping into awareness gives you the opportunity to decide: will you hold onto the cards you’ve been dealt, or will you trade them for a hand that challenges, excites, and expands you?


Common Ways We Stay Trapped in Our Comfort Zones:

  • Limiting the topics we’re willing to discuss.

  • Fear of appearing ignorant or unprepared.

  • Avoiding asking questions about things we don’t understand.

  • Denying our true selves and interests.

  • Fears of saying the “wrong” things for ourselves or hearing uncomfortable truths.

  • Fear of embarrassment and vulnerability.


The choice is always ours. Step out, explore, and redefine the bubble —or stay inside and watch it shrink even further. How much of your life are you willing to leave unexplored?


Peace and Blessings to You and Yours.



For more information and to schedule your FREE Discovery Session go to: InnerguideCoaching.com

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CONTACT

Dr. Dirk Farrell

Seattle, WA

​​Call and text (PST): (206) 883-4261

Email: drdirk@innerguidecoaching.com

© 2024 by Dirk Farrell.

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