“Butterflying”
(Originally written in 2018. Not sure I could write something like this today, but even as my mindset and writing shift, there’s still value that people can get from my old stuff, so I continue to recycle it.
Also interesting that I come across the butterfly piece as I was reading the other day about how the monarch butterfly population has plummeted over the last couple of decades. Feels like it’s harder to butterfly now than it was even then-not that any of this is easy at any point-but I felt it all connect. At least in my being. Your mileage may vary, of course. -R)
Let’s talk for a minute about this whole butterflying thing.
Sometimes, especially from the outside it looks like this perfect, glorious experience where everything just falls magically into place.
Yeah…not exactly. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it is a wonderful place to be. But it definitely DOES NOT come without its own set of hard lessons.
First off, you’ve just come from a point where you’ve basically been soup in a bag for however long and what you knew before “soup-bag” status is life crawling on the ground…there’s certainly a little bit of a shock to that. It would be kind of like me waking up one morning and going to the bathroom mirror to find I have somehow become a 34D.
Then there’s learning to use these big old wings you just sprouted. First you have to learn how to get in and out of your caterpillar sized doors with these big ass wings. Bump. Crash. Ouch.
Ahh, the wings. The places they can take you. But you have to learn how to use them. Learning to fly ain’t pretty. You remember the show “Greatest American Hero” from the 1980s? Like that. For you young’uns out there, the show was about this dude that was gifted a red flying suit by some aliens. And, well, he had some struggles learning how to use it. Which were quite funny to small child Rich. But that’s the whole idea. You are gonna fall, and crash into more shit, and at a high rate of speed. And it won’t feel too good.
And then there’s the others in your life who just ain’t gonna get it. Some will snicker behind your back, others will question, and a few will even attack or abandon you. And that will suck. And you’ll feel the urge to take the wings and stuff them in your shirt and stay close to the ground. But that doesn’t work because what felt like home as a caterpillar will feel like a prison to a butterfly.
Learning to butterfly ain’t easy. It’s a lot of hard lessons, realizing that what was home can no longer be. Accepting your new place in life. Coming to peace with learning who is really with you or not.
But is also such an amazing experience to live from. To just be free in your heart, to live from your truth and sing from your spirit. To spread your wings and be in wonder as the beautiful colors just emanate off of you. To just feel like all you are is magic and all you do is create magic and leave trails of magic as you pass.
When you realize you’re magic with wings, nothing can hold you back. Fly baby, FLY!!!!
