In the Matrix, Neo wakes up in front of his computer to a cryptic message on the monitor, “follow the white rabbit,” right before a knock at the door by a group of ravers. Although Neo initially declines their invitation to go out with them that night, he accepts after noticing the tattoo of a white rabbit on the shoulder of one of the ravers. Neo follows them to a club where he meets Trinity and is confronted with the false reality he’s been living in, known as the matrix, and the uncomfortable and inescapable truth hidden beyond its illusion. The white rabbit, which is a reference to Alice in Wonderland, represents the crossing over from the mundane to the mystical as rabbits are considered to be threshold animals in folklore. They don’t belong to one world. They move between them.

On October 22, 2013, I landed in Sydney, Australia with my whole life in a backpack and suitcase after quitting my job back home in Toronto. Despite not knowing what I was going to do or where I was going to live once I got there, I knew that moving to Australia even if it was just for a year, was something I had to do. Some friends and family members even tried to convince me not to go by telling me that I was crazy to uproot my entire life and start from scratch. Why Australia? Maybe it was from watching Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller as a kid that first exposed me to the land down under. Or maybe it was listening to Savage Garden as a teenager. Or watching the 2000 Sydney Olympics on TV. Or the fact that my favourite movie, the Matrix, was filmed in Sydney. Whatever the reasons were, I knew that ignoring my “call to action” by staying in Toronto and taking 2-3 week vacations per year for the rest of my life until retirement was going to be a death sentence. Deep down, I always knew there was something more.

We live in a system that’s designed for us to stay on the surface, to follow the rules and not ask questions, to buy into the mainstream narrative, which is designed to feed the machine while it hollows out our souls. And then every once in a while, we’re pointed to a strange and subtle sign, a synchronicity, a glitch in the matrix. It’s the white rabbit, a coded message from outside the system that stirs a deep restlessness telling you that there’s more to the story than what we’re told to believe. The uncomfortable and inescapable truth that I couldn’t ignore, which made me take the leap halfway across the world was the fact that no amount of vacations was going to substitute the chance to view life from a different perspective by living in a different country. The biggest scam is convincing everyone to sacrifice their youth, dreams, and freedom in exchange for finally getting to enjoy life after decades of labour when you’re too old to even enjoy it.

Following the white rabbit may not necessarily mean moving to a different country. Perhaps it can be something as small as stepping out of the routine to changing careers or starting/ending a long-term relationship, etc. Whatever it may be, going down the rabbit hole is a descent into the unknown, leading to an unpredictable and transformative journey, waking one up from a false reality. And there’s no turning back.

During my first few months in Sydney, I constantly doubted whether quitting my job to move to Australia was the right decision. It was also during this time that I would randomly come across “Follow the White Rabbit” spray painted on the sidewalk in various parts of the city. I would also occasionally see white rabbits on bumper stickers everywhere (it’s the mascot of a local rugby team). Whenever I saw a white rabbit, whether it was on the sidewalk or on the bumper of a car, it gave me a strange sense of reassurance that the journey I had embarked on was an act of accepting the invitation to awaken and escape the illusion of the matrix. Looking back 13 years later, it was probably the best decision I ever made.

“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.” – Carl Jung