The “ACU Bubble” is real. We know most don’t want to believe that it exists, but we have a responsibility to recognize it and overcome it. If an issue doesn’t affect us, we tend to not pay much attention to it, if any.

This needs to change. According to science, our world is our only viable option for living. So if this is our only shot, why do we separate ourselves into categories? And why do these categories dictate how involved we are with others in our world?

Categorizing our life helps us to keep from getting overwhelmed. We worry if we start to care about one thing outside of the bubble, we’ll be inundated with pleas for help. There’s just too many GoFundMe’s and charities to keep track of. College is already stressing us out enough, right? 

But this is our challenge to you; let go of your bubble, whether it’s the one around ACU or your own. What happens in Abilene is important because this is our home. But those natural disasters happening overseas are also really important; they affect people just like you even if you don’t know them.

Start reading the news. Even though you may not see the correlation, you do have an impact on almost everything. Donating a little of your time to familiarizing yourself with what’s going on in the world can truly be rewarding.

You begin to be able to keep up in a political or issue based conversation. More than that, you’ll start feeling more connected to the world around you, and your bubble will begin to shrink without so much as a conscious effort.

Find a way that you can help or make an impact. So maybe you think that even if you pay attention to these issues, you probably won’t be able to make an impact. You couldn’t be more wrong. An impact doesn’t have to be large, it just needs to exist. It may be small, but it’s so much more than nothing.

Pop your bubble. You’ll be surprised at how far you step out of your bubble simply by becoming aware of your surroundings, whether they be near or far. Start believing that these issues that seem so irrelevant are truly important. Even if your impact is small, it still matters.