Butterfly
"You do not just wake up and become a butterfly, growth is a process"
-Rupi Kaur
Growth is a process. That stuck with me. Because I am extremely hard on myself. All the time. Aren't we all? But I look back at myself only a year ago, and have made so much progress. On top of being set back just six months ago with a huge life changing event that nearly killed that growth progress, I still look back and see even more growth within myself. I always continue to move forward, and to grow, although sometimes I still feel like the ugly caterpillar wanting to run and hide back into my safe cocoon. Why do we see ourselves so harshly? Yet we see others and admire them. Admiring even the moths that try to fool us to believe they themselves are also butterflies. But they are not, and will never be. Don't let them fool you.
Some will always just be a moth wearing and taring at you, trying to bring you down. But its okay, you cannot control what others say and do. Keep being you. You can only continue to smile and be kind to them. Don't let them drag down your beauty. Your ability to outshine them with your compassion and strength, not sinking into their cowardness depths, only shows your true beauty. Because butterflies don't spread darkness. They shine and fly beautifully brightening the days. They sleep sound in the night. They won't bring you into the dark, or be fooled in the night by a light bulb, they are smarter than that. A light in the dark only shines in the night, deceiving the dark. Moths and mosquitoes will suck the life out of you if you allow them too, always deceiving you. Don't be fooled by the fake light and become of that. Of course to be a butterfly, you have to be a caterpillar on the ground. You learn a lot of things there. And you have a choice, to be bitter, sucking the life out of people like moths and mosquitoes, or to be better flying higher as a butterfly. Trust me, I have been through the darkness, that's why I choose to spread the light, flying with my beautiful wings to help others sleep better in the night.
To be on the ground felt like I was slowly and scaredly crawling to find somewhere safe to hide in my cocoon. I was just scared. I didn't know that all of the things on the ground were there to emerge me into a beautiful butterfly. I just thought that life didn't accept me, that I was succumbing into the dark real world, not believing that there was true beauty to life. Not realizing that I had the guts to handle what would be thrown at me. We all face darkness. Everyone's mountains are different. We all go through change, fears and real life rock bottoms on the ground. Yet it's how we get through them that develops our strength. I never would have imagined that my struggles were actually the blocks that were building me into who I am. That every tear and fear pulled off a layer of the exterior wall I had up. I was afraid of change because I wanted to choose my own life and my plans. I wanted to be sure that I was in control, that I had everything that I thought I wanted for my life. But how could a person even know what they want in life, when life happens to us, not the other way around. I didn't know that in any given moment, life can be taken away. That we only have one heart, and one soul, that we can build a huge exterior wall around and it still be torn down, vanishing everything, even you.
I guess once I crawled into my cocoon, I realized, for it was the ground that taught me, and cocoon itself to protect me. But I knew that protection wasn't going to be forever. It was my time to grow and heal from the pain of that vulnerability that I had no control over. To choose the type of butterfly I want to be, that I realized on the ground. How am I going to make a difference in the life I was given. How am I going to find my purpose? All of this only helped me climb higher as my confidence was building into a fearless butterfly. Until one day I knew that I wanted to make people shine and smile, spreading goodness, even in the dark. To use the one heart and soul I have in this life for good. For the better.
That's when it became time to fly. Yet, we still don't recognize our beauty because we are more than that. But we are beautiful because our wings become exactly what others see in us. Beautiful.
So now my darling, you are a butterfly whether you believe it or not. You conquered many mountains that took courage and strength, You did it. And you will continue to embark upon the challenging roads ahead because you are fearless. That takes bravery. You humble yourself when you need too. And remind yourself that you aren't here for you. You are here for others. So of course you don't see your beautiful wings. But you are starting too.
Because you are starting to see the beauty in yourself. You are starting to love you more, because you are helping others shine, and that makes you fly high. And you enjoy spreading your kindness by pollinating all people with your inner beauty.
That's what makes you a butterfly.
So ask yourself. Am I the same person I was only a year ago? You will be amazed to see your own growth right in front of you. Maybe you are facing your own mountains now. Don't be so hard on yourself if you are crawling on the ground. You will conquer this, because I am proof of that. For you may not have the power to choose the life you want yours to be, you do have the power to choose who you want to be. We can all be butterflies or moths, remember that. So choose to be a butterfly, and you will see the beauty in the life you were given, and not allow the challenges you face to define who you are. You can't control that.
-Rupi Kaur
Growth is a process. That stuck with me. Because I am extremely hard on myself. All the time. Aren't we all? But I look back at myself only a year ago, and have made so much progress. On top of being set back just six months ago with a huge life changing event that nearly killed that growth progress, I still look back and see even more growth within myself. I always continue to move forward, and to grow, although sometimes I still feel like the ugly caterpillar wanting to run and hide back into my safe cocoon. Why do we see ourselves so harshly? Yet we see others and admire them. Admiring even the moths that try to fool us to believe they themselves are also butterflies. But they are not, and will never be. Don't let them fool you.
Some will always just be a moth wearing and taring at you, trying to bring you down. But its okay, you cannot control what others say and do. Keep being you. You can only continue to smile and be kind to them. Don't let them drag down your beauty. Your ability to outshine them with your compassion and strength, not sinking into their cowardness depths, only shows your true beauty. Because butterflies don't spread darkness. They shine and fly beautifully brightening the days. They sleep sound in the night. They won't bring you into the dark, or be fooled in the night by a light bulb, they are smarter than that. A light in the dark only shines in the night, deceiving the dark. Moths and mosquitoes will suck the life out of you if you allow them too, always deceiving you. Don't be fooled by the fake light and become of that. Of course to be a butterfly, you have to be a caterpillar on the ground. You learn a lot of things there. And you have a choice, to be bitter, sucking the life out of people like moths and mosquitoes, or to be better flying higher as a butterfly. Trust me, I have been through the darkness, that's why I choose to spread the light, flying with my beautiful wings to help others sleep better in the night.
To be on the ground felt like I was slowly and scaredly crawling to find somewhere safe to hide in my cocoon. I was just scared. I didn't know that all of the things on the ground were there to emerge me into a beautiful butterfly. I just thought that life didn't accept me, that I was succumbing into the dark real world, not believing that there was true beauty to life. Not realizing that I had the guts to handle what would be thrown at me. We all face darkness. Everyone's mountains are different. We all go through change, fears and real life rock bottoms on the ground. Yet it's how we get through them that develops our strength. I never would have imagined that my struggles were actually the blocks that were building me into who I am. That every tear and fear pulled off a layer of the exterior wall I had up. I was afraid of change because I wanted to choose my own life and my plans. I wanted to be sure that I was in control, that I had everything that I thought I wanted for my life. But how could a person even know what they want in life, when life happens to us, not the other way around. I didn't know that in any given moment, life can be taken away. That we only have one heart, and one soul, that we can build a huge exterior wall around and it still be torn down, vanishing everything, even you.
I guess once I crawled into my cocoon, I realized, for it was the ground that taught me, and cocoon itself to protect me. But I knew that protection wasn't going to be forever. It was my time to grow and heal from the pain of that vulnerability that I had no control over. To choose the type of butterfly I want to be, that I realized on the ground. How am I going to make a difference in the life I was given. How am I going to find my purpose? All of this only helped me climb higher as my confidence was building into a fearless butterfly. Until one day I knew that I wanted to make people shine and smile, spreading goodness, even in the dark. To use the one heart and soul I have in this life for good. For the better.
That's when it became time to fly. Yet, we still don't recognize our beauty because we are more than that. But we are beautiful because our wings become exactly what others see in us. Beautiful.
So now my darling, you are a butterfly whether you believe it or not. You conquered many mountains that took courage and strength, You did it. And you will continue to embark upon the challenging roads ahead because you are fearless. That takes bravery. You humble yourself when you need too. And remind yourself that you aren't here for you. You are here for others. So of course you don't see your beautiful wings. But you are starting too.
Because you are starting to see the beauty in yourself. You are starting to love you more, because you are helping others shine, and that makes you fly high. And you enjoy spreading your kindness by pollinating all people with your inner beauty.
That's what makes you a butterfly.
So ask yourself. Am I the same person I was only a year ago? You will be amazed to see your own growth right in front of you. Maybe you are facing your own mountains now. Don't be so hard on yourself if you are crawling on the ground. You will conquer this, because I am proof of that. For you may not have the power to choose the life you want yours to be, you do have the power to choose who you want to be. We can all be butterflies or moths, remember that. So choose to be a butterfly, and you will see the beauty in the life you were given, and not allow the challenges you face to define who you are. You can't control that.