A Little Rabbit

Once upon a time, there was a rabbit.

This rabbit was different. He had a dream to be something special. He was different from everyone else in his village.

All of the others were okay with living an ordinary provincial rabbit life. Tending the carrot stand, raising a family, and retiring.

But this rabbit was not.

He wanted to live a different life. One was what he did became an expression of who he was.

So he left his rabbit home, in search of freedom in the big city. To this little rabbit, freedom meant self-expression and excitement, which had been so missing from his life at home. He always felt “odd” or “different,” but knew he was destined for greatness.

However, once the rabbit made it to the city, he no longer felt odd or different. In fact, the rabbit felt lost, alone, and similar.

He had dreamed his entire life about the day when he would finally break free from the chains of his childhood and burst into a new life. But now that he had accomplished it, he knew not what to do next.

Rabbit during an existential crisis:

In his village, being ambitious had made him stand out. But in the city, he was just one of the many. He was just another cog in the machine, waiting for someone to notice him.

No one saw the power he had within his little rabbit heart to do great things, and he began not to see this power either.

For the first time in his whole life, his vision became foggy. He no longer knew what he wanted. He had realized his dream of leaving his home and striking out on his own, but when he got there and achieved this goal, he had nothing more to stake his name on.

He had thought that it was his ambition that made him great, and now that everyone had ambition, he was no longer different. It was time for him to join the others and be practical.

However, he was different.

Only he had overlooked his passion and ability out of his need for other rabbits to approve his direction. Nothing had changed within the little rabbit. He was still the same as he had always been. But with new inputs and opinions, he stood confused, unsure of whether his direction was the “right” one.

Instead of diving deeply into his confusion to discover what was him and what was other, he chose to leave it at the periphery. Avoiding it. Thinking that it would one day come back if it was truly meant to be.

It never did.

The rabbit lived out his days in the city. Listening to the contributions of others. Never once realizing that it was the inputs that changed his purpose, not the purpose itself that had changed.

So goes the story of most of our lives. You start off fast and furious, a head full of steam in the direction you know internally is right, only to be slammed down by a feeling that you must be practical.