Look at the caterpillar. It molts multiple times in its small larvae life. It grows too big for its exoskeleton and must shed it in order to continue eating and living and growing. I’ve watched these caterpillars up close, and trust me this necessary change does not look comfortable. In fact it looks painful.
Imagine being stuffed into a too small outfit that is so tight you feel it must rip or you won’t be able to breathe or move. This is what it looks like when a caterpillar molts. Like they are trapped in a too tight corset and if they do not break the strings and shed the old skin they will suffocate.
I imagine the metamorphosis to butterfly is excruciating.
When caterpillars ready themselves for the final change, they shed their skin and turn into goo. The new skin outside that goo hardens into a chrysalis. After a few weeks of quiet meditation, self reflection and change, they burst out of their skin for the last time as beautiful butterflies.
Not only do they look like a completely different creature, they can FLY.
The pain they had to endure to get this to this point might seem a distant memory as they flutter and explorethe skies.
Necessary change can be painful.
It can be scary. In fact I think true necessary change is horrifying, at least it has been for me.
Like a caterpillar outgrowing their skin, my own life has gotten quite uncomfortable. I’ve tried to make things work. Tried ignoring my truths. Tried to fit into the expectations others had for me, but alas, I know I’m meant for something different. I have to change.
I’ve discovered my own truth and I can no longer live within the safety of what I know. I have to face the uncertainty of change, the fear of something different, because it is the only way I can spread my wings and fly. It is the only way I can be my true self and grow into what I was meant to be.
Lives will be effected, which is why it’s hard to make the choice to change. But ultimately my inner truth is more important than the disappointment of others. I am the one who has to live with myself. I have to face the mirror and accept who I am.
Change can be painful, but necessary change is worth it, or at least I hope. I guess after I spend time alone and in silence I’ll finally see if this chrysalis of change will truly transform me into something beautiful, but unrecognizable, or if it is as scary as I truly believed. I have a feeling I’ll learn to spread new wings and be better than I ever imagined.
May your pain bring necessary change and may the change bring you new life and beauty. May the future be better than the past and may you fly on new wings.
Blessings Be.
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