During times of transition, we are like caterpillars, isolated and immersed in darkness. We have no idea that when we ungracefully claw our way out of the cocoon, we will have inevitably transformed into a new, magnificent creature that we have always felt within the core of our beings.
I recently heard a story about a girl seeing a butterfly struggling to free itself from its cocoon. She felt terribly for the butterfly and didn’t want to see it struggle. She tried to help the butterfly out of the cocoon and soon after she removed it from its old home, the butterfly died. You see, the butterfly builds the muscles it needs to flourish and fly in its new world by fighting its way out of the cocoon that housed its old life.
The pain, discomfort, and agony that comes with muscling our way through challenging times is the exact gift we need so we can prepare for the freedom that awaits us outside of our cocoons. We have no way of knowing that the darkness of the cocoon will give way to a higher state of being, a new freedom. Just as the caterpillar cannot fathom life beyond what he knows, we cannot know the freedom and beauty that awaits us if we are willing to remain steadfast in our trust, patience, and the strength that lies in the powerful recesses of our souls.
All we can feel is destruction as our old lives in the cocoon crumble around us. As we fight to free ourselves from the old home that no longer fits, we are convinced that we will surely die. There is no other life besides the one we know, no other way of being besides on the ground or in the safety of the cocoon. But suddenly the cocoon has become uncomfortable, too small and restrictive for this unexpected growth within our spirits. We fight the process because we can’t see the other side of this challenge. We are losing everything we know. We are stricken with panic and fear, our egos becoming loud in our ears, imploring us to stay in the cocoon, no matter how painful it has become.
When we give up fighting for an existence that no longer fits what we are transforming into, when we finally surrender and let go, we mercifully shed the old versions of ourselves that no longer serve us. The timing of this transformation is divinely perfect, the pain of the fight strengthening the core of who are in preparation for the next soaring steps on our journey. We realize that the pain has truly had a higher purpose and that there is something unfathomably beautiful on the other side of this too-small-existence within the cocoon.
We surrender to the process and to the greater energy that suddenly flows through our being, an energy we were never able to experience as a caterpillar. We let ourselves be led by this exquisite power within, something so new that it scares us but also exhilarates our souls as the magic within drowns out the old monotony of our ego minds.
We walk the last few steps out of the darkness between our old ways of being and what lies ahead, and we become enveloped in the light. We realize our power, we see that the cocoon was not there to trap us in darkness, but to guide us into a future where we can move toward our highest expression of who we are within. We realize that the muscles we have built have equipped us with everything we need to fly.
We feel freedom and we know the expansion of this new way of being only because we got to experience the restriction of the cocoon.
When you’re in the middle of the transformation, you forget that the ability to fly might be on the other side. If not for the stage of the caterpillar, there would be no possibility of a cocoon. If not for the darkness of the cocoon, we would not know light. If not for the growth of our being within the cocoon, we would not feel the restriction that pushed us and told us it was time to move out of the only home we could remember. If not for the past, the caterpillar could never realize its truest expression. There is no butterfly without the rest of its story.
No matter which part of your transformation you are in, never lose sight of the fact that you are a butterfly. If you feel stuck and trapped in a place that is too small for your spirit, keep moving forward. Brick by brick, you will realize the truth that has been within your being all along. Enjoy the painful, uncomfortable process of becoming the truest version of you, because this is an irreplaceable part of the story of your soul.
You are becoming.
You are growing and moving and transforming.
And one day, not far from now, you will wake up and realize you are the highest expression of the soul you came into this lifetime to be.
You are your own sparkling, magical, magnificent
Butterfly.
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