Be Like A Butterfly
In life, I like to resonate with nature. And in particular I find Butterflies to be completely fascinating. I learned something very powerful about them and I'd like to share it with you...
You may have already heard this story but it's well worth experiencing/reading again.
Once a little boy was playing outdoors and found a fascinating caterpillar. He carefully picked it up and took it home to show his mother. He asked his mother if he could keep it, and she said he could if he would take good care of it.
The little boy got a large jar from his mother and put plants to eat, and a stick to climb on, in the jar. Every day he watched the caterpillar and brought it new plants to eat.
One day the caterpillar climbed up the stick and started acting strangely. The boy worriedly called his mother who came and understood that the caterpillar was creating a cocoon. The mother explained to the boy how the caterpillar was going to go through a metamorphosis and become a butterfly.
The little boy was thrilled to hear about the changes his caterpillar would go through. He watched every day, waiting for the butterfly to emerge. One day it happened, a small hole appeared in the cocoon and the butterfly started to struggle to come out.
At first the boy was excited, but soon he became concerned. The butterfly was struggling so hard to get out! It looked like it couldn’t break free! It looked desperate! It looked like it was making no progress!
The boy was so concerned he decided to help. He ran to get scissors, and then walked back (because he had learned not to run with scissors…). He snipped the cocoon to make the hole bigger and the butterfly quickly emerged!
As the butterfly came out the boy was surprised. It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. He continued to watch the butterfly expecting that, at any moment, the wings would dry out, enlarge and expand to support the swollen body. He knew that in time the body would shrink and the butterfly’s wings would expand.
But neither happened!
The butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It never was able to fly…
As the boy tried to figure out what had gone wrong his mother took him to talk to a scientist from a local college. He learned that the butterfly was SUPPOSED to struggle. In fact, the butterfly’s struggle to push its way through the tiny opening of the cocoon pushes the fluid out of its body and into its wings. Without the struggle, the butterfly would never, ever fly. The boy’s good intentions hurt the butterfly.
So from this story, I surmised a few truths which can be linked to us in our daily lives. We are supposed to go through hard times, we are supposed to learn how to get out of our own cocoon. This is how we grow, how we flourish, how we change and evolve. It's great to look at our challenges in life and look at them as an opportunity to learn, rather than a way to break us down. Sometimes it may feel the struggle is all too much, all too real, and we are all capable of feeling that way. However, believe in yourself and fight and struggle and let the power of that battle make you stronger, make you better able to cope next time. Let yourself fly, be grateful for the struggles that have made you the person you are today. Be a shining example for others, spreading those battle-gilded beautiful wings and be proud of all you have accomplished and survived! #Warriors #ButterflyBattles
##OwnYourWings