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I’m into ARGs, Alternative Reality Games, and they’re becoming more mainstream. In an ARG, you have to hear about the game and get involved and the people who play and make up these games call this a rabbit-hole. For example, the latest cover of wired has a few phone numbers on it that when you call them, a challenging game unfolds. The phone numbers are a rabbit hole. Once you call the number, you’re in the game. It’s kinda like Myst except played in meat-space.

So lately I’ve been thinking about applying the idea of rabbit holes not just to games, but to real life opportunities and possibilities. Basically all around each of us are all sorts of possibilities. If you’re open to them and are keeping an eye out, they’ll show up. It might be a person you meet or a passion you’ve always wanted to indulge, or a hobby that’s always seemed cool, but just out of reach.

There are daily rabbit holes where you can discover something special or make a connection with a friend or learn a new tidbit of information about something you’re interested in. There are also big rabbit holes that offer new pathways into hobbies, relationships, and even careers! The trick is, you have to be on the lookout for possibilities if you want your life pathway to change. You have to be looking for the holes off to the side of the pathway. Who knows what may be through the portal you discover and give attention to?

You can choose to go down rabbit-holes or not. There are always going to be rabbit holes. I almost went through a rabbit hole a few years ago when I was offered an opportunity to learn how to become a search engine optimizer… it was a tempting rabbit-hole, and it would have led into a rewarding career in a really interesting field, but I passed it up, it just didn’t involve enough hands-on creativity for me. My life’s passion is focused now on being creative and supporting creativity in others. Being an art teacher was a pretty good match for my passions too, I wish it had paid more and that schools had funding to be more effective.

I’ve jumped into tons of rabbit holes. I’ve been a dishwasher, busser, waiter, camp-counselor, in-home special needs assistant, musician, dancer, actor, floor-runner, camera assistant, puppeteer, theater manager, school-teacher, photographer, videographer, blogger, podcaster and now I make something new every week that I usually don’t know how to make at the beginning of the week!

You can also choose to jump out of a rabbit hole and sometimes rabbit-holes have rabbit-holes inside them to other rabbit-holes. One thing can lead to another which may be a tunnel taking you right to something juicy!

If you stick to your passions you really can’t go wrong. Life is full of opportunities and if you are willing to follow your passion, watch for opportunities, and work hard you’ll be rewarded with amazing possibilities, connections, and things will happen that you would have never dreamed possible.

“There are no coincidences, only cosmic connections!” is a phrase that I grew up hearing a lot in the 70’s and I have to admit, I’m an optimist who believe in things working out.

Right now I’m surrounded by rabbit holes. I meet really interesting people all the time, I collaborate on projects that I would never be able to accomplish on my own, and opportunities are everywhere for me right now. I’m on a pathway through a field full of rabbit holes!

What rabbit-holes have shown up in your life? What kind of possibilities are you open too? Do you have any rabbit-holes showing up on your path right now? Would you go down a rabbit-hole into your wildest dreams if it showed up in front of you?