The Novel Effect

I couldn’t let Chapter 10 pass without sharing Alice’s poignant quote that seems wise beyond her years,

“I could tell you my adventures – beginning from this morning,” said Alice a little timidly: “but it’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”

Alice’s observation of the change that she has undergone in a single day reminds me of those times in my life where my whole world shifted in an instant.  Upheaval is rarely planned but instead thrust upon us in the form of a sudden event.  We’ve all experienced the sensation of falling down a rabbit hole into a new reality after a sudden death, shocking announcement or catastrophic diagnosis.  The private universe in which we each orbit shifts and there is no use in going back to yesterday because we were each a different person then.  So if there is no going back it would seem we should be drawn towards moving forward.  But in reality we don’t move forward quickly.  We live in yesterday, asking “why?” and “what if?”  We dwell and stall and mourn.

And eventually we learn that we must abandon yesterday, continue down the rabbit hole to find a future and a new reality in Wonderland.