Don’t let someone burst your bubble

Life is a bit like the soap bubble. We have great hopes and visions of what will be when we shake our bottle and get ready to blow.

We have an idea of where we want to go with the bubbles; we have checked the direction. We undertake a bit of a  ‘mini-risk assessment’ but without the need for a boring matrix and a two hour meeting.

Bubble production is not an overly complex process and in this time precious world, sometimes you don’t even have to make the effort to blow; you can just pull trigger and it does it for you!

Blown away

The bubbles come in all shapes and sizes as they emerge from the ‘gadget’ and our experience tells us that sometimes,  it is sadly over before its begun. But sometimes the bubble exceeds all expectations. The colours are beautiful as it catches the light and we feel that sense of happiness and a smile emerges.

We feel good

Your bubble may travel some distance as it floats in the air and you hope and pray that it can go on for as long as possible, avoiding the hazards of the close environment and the risks and threats such as other humans, animals and things.

For those tiny moments in time, your bubble is free to ride the air and reach it’s final destination. You had it all; right in front of you and suddenly, like life, its gone and in the past.

Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee

So what is the point? Well the fact is, that like the bubble, your life has a start and an end point. You will come in shapes and sizes as we all do and your beautiful colours will shine as you travel along your journey. There will be elements of sadness, disappointment and joy; not just to yourself but perhaps to others too.

However you will have amazing ideas and ambitions; your humility and individualism will show through. You will have your ideas for what you want and what you can be; where you want to go and your input into life and work.

Your own needs, wants and values. You are entitled to them. Some influence and control over your direction.

You will have your own sting

Hold your head up high

The desire and need to survive and keep going is a human characteristic. It is in our make up; it was there long before someone thought of attaching ‘resilience’ to business and organizations as a form of continuity and a marketable asset, as well as making an industry and a science of it.

So, no matter what great ideas, expectations and ambitions you have in your life, always remember that somewhere along your journey, others will try and burst your bubble for you. Take you down; put you down. Deflate you before you get to where you see yourself in the future. Some might do it unintentionally of course without thinking.

Sometimes we are not always logical – we are human after all

That ‘sense checking’ of the fact that others will try to put you off, does not need a rocket scientist to work it out. It is a fact of life. Jealousy, hate, bullying, disrespect or by accident; whatever the reason sits behind their attempts our actions to burst your bubble, just keep going.

Unlike the soap bubble, you can pick yourself up. You can hold your head up high because you are stronger than those that dismiss you. You can keep going for as long as possible.

If today is a day when someone bursts your bubble, tomorrow (as Nina Simone sang) ‘will be a new dawn, a new day’ and you can feel good again.

Have you ever got your bubble busted? Do you agree with Paul? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR – An international business resilience leader, Paul Kudray is a Fellow of the EPC and a Fellow of the Institute of Civil Protection and Emergency Management (FICPEM). He is a Lead Auditor for ISO 22301. In 2014 he founded his own consultancy and he is an excellent forward thinking resilience innovator and blogger. paul@kudrayconsulting.com.