Jennifer Woodley
RUNNING DOWN
RABBIT HOLES
l
ice was bored. And restless. As her sister’s
voice droned on and the afternoon heat
grew oppressive, Alice sought a distraction.
She spied a white rabbit rushing past, urging
himself to hurry up or he’d be late, and then
the queen would have his head! That’s odd,
thought Alice. Intrigued, she decided to leave
the refuge of a shady tree and her sister’s
monotonous voice. Alice scurried behind this
eccentric rabbit and followed him down a
warren to a wonderland.
The question is, how did we find ourselves
there? Alice was bored, tired and restless. She
was discontent with her current circumstances.
Dissatisfaction had a lot to do with it. But mostly
running down rabbit holes is about a lack of
purpose. Many people are like gyroscopes
spinning around at a frantic pace but never going
anywhere. Without a clear purpose, without a
set of meaningful goals, we will keep changing
directions, jobs, relationships, homes or other
externals. We hope each change will settle the
confusion or fill the emptiness we feel inside. We
think that maybe this time it will be different, but
the distraction doesn’t solve the real problem – a
lack of focus and purpose.
Life is full of rabbit holes. Most of them, I
have discovered, are far from wonderful. I’m
not referring to opportunities that move us
forward into new and exciting adventures.
That is an entirely different subject. Rabbit
warrens, however, as even Alice found out
lead nowhere and everywhere all at the
same time. They are mostly confusing and
unhelpful. They provide no real clarity and no
specific direction, as the options are endless.
Most rabbit warrens I have followed leave me
feeling exhausted and with a ready eagerness
to backtrack and replant my feet on a firmer
path. Its human nature to get distracted by
minor issues. Like Alice, we easily fall down
the hole of aimless distraction.
Focussed lives have impact. Distracted lives
do not. Do we find ourselves easily distracted?
What things are drawing us down rabbit holes
just now? We can’t do it all, but we can do
less. We can only live effective, fruitful lives by
being selective in our choices. What is most
important and really worth pursuing? Let’s
concentrate our energy and effort on just that.
Jennifer Woodley is an Australian freelance
writer who enjoys encouraging others through
writing and mentoring.
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DOZ Magazine | May 2020