Like the Butterfly, You Will Awaken in Your Own Time

I have always been obsessed with butterflies, not just for their beauty but because of what they were BEFORE they were butterflies.  They embody the journey we all are on, the processes we go through from the struggle to the victory, from the winter to the spring, from the safety of our cocoon to the moment we break forth to discover all that is beautiful and unique about us.

We all experience our point of discovery at different times in our lives and sometimes, because of situations and circumstances in our lives, we even have the opportunity to re-discover who we are, should be, or will be as a result of change, growth and transitions in our lives.

If I have learned anything about life in my years on this earth, it's that life is about change.  Gail Sheehy says,  "If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living."  We stop living when we become comfortable in our cocoons, when we stop reaching for our dreams, stop setting goals or cease to believe that we can reach them.  We lose our purpose when we focus on what others think of or expect of us and when we try to conform to those expectations.  The most dangerous game we can play is when we begin to look outside of ourselves for validation and affirmation.

THE GREATEST VALIDATION WE CAN SEEK SHOULD BE OF OURSELVES.

We must also be prepared, there will be people in our lives who don't like that we are changing, growing or transforming, especially if we have lived our lives with a" people pleasing" mentality.  They might challenge our renewal and will try to fit us back into their mold of what we had always been.  But when we find our wings, there is no holding us down!  We CANNOT stifle our radiance because someone challenges our metamorphosis, it's our journey, so we have to own it!   

I've experienced times in my life when I felt disconnected, disengaged and completely crippled.  There have been moments of complete desperation when I was sure I could not put one foot in front of the other and I was positive that I could not go on for another day.  When I experienced those times, I let myself be broken and fragmented, I cried and I withdrew back into myself, but only for a moment, as I could not allow myself to stay there.  Those moments brought intense self-reflection and forced me to face my weaknesses.  And then, just when I thought the world was over, the breakthrough came.   

"Our greatest problems often yield our greatest breakthroughs. Sometimes, fierce frustration is a precondition for tremendous triumph." - Cory Booker

When you find your wings, when you discover you can fly, you see beauty in the world and the value in the pain you experienced.  From the discomfort comes the strength, from the frustration rises the fierceness you never knew you had, and from the terror comes the triumph.  

Don't doubt, don't give up and never stop believing, for just like the butterfly, you too will awaken in your own time.