The Tragedy of the Bummed-out Butterfly.
Many of us are impatient caterpillars who want to emerge from the chrysalis before the magic has arrived. We’re tired of the “messy middle” part of our transformation. Maybe this pandemic is our version of a societal cocoon.
The other day, I met a bummed-out butterfly. His metamorphosis was complete. His life was in the midst of a beautiful crescendo. Yet, he dwelled on the past.
A caterpillar exists to eat. A butterfly exists to pollinate. In between, it’s the “imaginal cells” of the caterpillar that allow evolution to turn a slow eater into a flying pollinator.
Take a look at a transformation in your life. How did you show up in the three phases—caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly? Did you feel better once you busted out of your gooey cocoon? If not, maybe it’s time to reverse-engineer your transition.
I know an elementary school teacher who got her Ph.D. in education and now teaches in a college, but she misses the young ones. She has come to realize that her transformation was meant to produce an elementary school principal, not a teacher of young adults.
It’s never too late to transform again. Life is liminal. Full of change. Until we die, and then, we change all over again.
