Saturday, August 21, 2010

The Deployment Bubble

"A penny will hide the biggest star in the Universe if you hold it close enough to hide your eye."  - Samuel Grafton

I admit it - I'm in the Deployment Bubble.  I eat, drink, talk, sleep, walk, drive, pray, cry and sing deployment.  It's my world and I'm looking through its lense.

The problem with the Deployment Bubble, is you begin to forget there's a world out there who isn't living in it.  People all around you are living their lives outside of your bubble, and living in their own.  Maybe it's a Jobless Bubble.  Or a Loneliness Bubble.  Lots of those are living in the Broken Marriage Bubble and the Illness Bubble.  We're all walking around in our own world, often forgetting all those people around us that are struggling each day.  I wish I had a giant pin and could pop all these Bubbles.  We'd all be better off if we'd take a moment to glance into eachother's lives, hearts, strengths and trials.

So, yes, I've been living the last 40+ days obsessed with this deployment and all its crazy affects on my life.  It was just this week that I realized how many people around me, whom I love, are really struggling in their own ways.  I feel like I've been a bit selfish to assume that I'm the only one struggling right now.

I hope that I can keep a better perspective from here on out.  That's not to say that this deployment doesn't shape how I live my life and feel each day.  But there's something to say about being there for those in need, even when you may be in need yourself.

7 comments:

Spurgeon said...

I agree, sometimes while driving I look at other drivers and think about what they are doing, where are they going, who are they waiting to see, who DONT they want to see... it's interesting to not only think that we all have separate paths that may or may not cross at some point. Even more interesting to think that there is not only a nation of people but a WORLD full of people struggling, as you put it well, "in their own bubble". That's why I like to talk to as many people as possible, there are so many people out there that are just dying to tell a story about their present, past, or possible future. The question is, at what point in our lives do our bubbles burst and we unite? For some this happens in the military training and experiences of high stress but how do "civilians" do it? How can we change our daily lives to burst our own bubble and is it by helping ourselves by helping others?

TAW said...

I wish I had had read your blog before I blogged about my sour grapes. I am in a huge bubble at the moment and I don't even have the energy to contemplate someone else's bubble. I know..very selfish. lol. My bubble at the moment is more like a solid metal cone of deployment.

Unknown said...

VERY insightful. I know you Jill, and you are very available to those around you.

Emmy said...

What a great analogy. And you are right, we all have our own trials that are equally as hard to us just different.

Spurgeon said...

Wow I was long winded, sorry had a few beers

Jill said...

CSPURGEON - HA! No worries. You're quite insightful with a few beers in ya.

Spurgeon said...

I can solve the worlds problems with a stogie and a 6 pack, of course all this is easier to accomplish with Joel and a bottle of scotch