We Can All Go Down the Rabbit Hole

We’ve all been there; lying awake at night, running through what we did the day before (or, let's be honest, a few years ago) and questioned why we did that thing or said what we said, playing through all the different scenarios in our minds. We do this knowing full well that there is absolutely nothing we can do to change the past.

You’re not alone in this, either. Research shows that about 73% of people aged 25 – 35 chronically overthink the past and even future possibilities. That percent drops a bit - 52% of people aged 45 – 55. But still, about half of us are reliving the past and analyzing it. ?

We've all gone down that rabbit hole.

Did you know that focusing on the past and going over your past decisions can reinforce negative thinking and increase feelings of distress and anxiety about past mistakes? It can take away from being present in the moment and actually encourages narrow thinking. ?

Finding a happy medium?

Keep in mind that is natural to reflect on our past and we need to do that in order to learn from mistakes. But there needs to be a happy medium of reflecting and learning versus hyper focusing or overanalyzing.?

This is why we love this quote from Louis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland so much.

“I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”?

This quote says it all to us. It reminds us that focusing on our wrongs and what we would do differently is only possible because we no longer view the situation the same from that moment. If you feel worried about a past situation, you most likely learned something from it. It’s moving forward from that learning that can be hard because we get stuck on the fact that it happened in the first place.?

It's important to remember that we only learn through experience. Reflect, thank life for the lesson you learned and move forward. Because you are, in fact, a different person now than you were yesterday. ?

Who was Louis Carroll??

Louis Carroll’s actual name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Louis Carroll was his pen name that he used when he wrote. This quote, as we said, actually comes from Alice in Wonderland. We all know the story of a girl that falls down the rabbit hole, into a world of curious creatures, adventure and oddities. ?

The story of Alice in Wonderland?

Louis made friends with a man who had three young daughters. He often spent time with them, taking them on boating trips and telling them stories. Many of these stories revolved around a girl named Alice who found herself in many adventures. The story goes that after the encouragement of the three girls, he wrote the stories of Alice down into a book and published it in 1965 as “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. ?

What we can learn from Alice?

There’s a lot of speculation about the purpose or moral to Alice’s story. Many believe that the Caterpillar’s question, “Who in the world am I?” is the main object of the story; To help the reader question who they are. This makes sense with the quote we focus on for this week. ?

Learning from the past?

Who we are is very much shaped by what we experience in life. What we do with those experiences is up to us. Who in the world we are is and should change day by day as we have new experiences. ?

What you can take from this?

As a person working with members, trying new things – and sometimes failing at those things – is to be expected. This week’s quote reminds us to learn and move forward without spending too much time stuck in the past. ?

Look forward to the new year. What are you looking forward to? How have you changed from yesterday? What would you like to do differently??

Why not start now??

Why do we do a “Quote Of the Week”??

?Inspirational quotes can help fuel creative thinking, build deeper connections to your daily life and help to promote positive thinking. Thoughtful Tuesday is our way of fostering this habit and practice. We want to get a little bit deeper each week and help association and chamber professionals stay inspired.?

Who is MemberClicks?

Check out our LinkedIn page or explore our website if you want to learn more! But, MemberClicks provides membership management software to associations, chambers and other member-based organizations. We have had a few other names in the past including WebLink, and were acquired in 2021, officially joining the Personify family.??

Want to learn more? Check out our products and pricing!?