#11 The caterpillar’s cocoon

Caterpillars spend pretty much every waking moment looking for food.  They go from being an ugly pest that destroys plant life, to a butterfly, a beautiful flower pollinator.

Nobody wants to touch a caterpillar…but everyone wants to put their hand out for a butterfly to land on.

It’s a tough life for a caterpillar.  They must endure quite a bit before they transform.  They go through a long struggle, and have to work hard for everything they get.

When a caterpillar is changing into a butterfly, there is a time when you can begin to see it emerging from the cocoon. The critter is struggling…and if it is released too early, it will die. 

It won’t be able to fly.

During the struggle to get out of the cocoon, it was developing its wings.  Through the caterpillar’s whole life it was hunted by birds, ate plants, and looked ugly.  It survived, then died in the end before turning into the butterfly it wanted to be.

We do this in our own lives all the time.  We see ourselves as ready to fly, but haven’t developed our wings yet.  We tried to get ahead too soon, or tried to take a shortcut.

Nothing is going to be handed to you.  Luck isn’t going be the shortcut to your success.  That’s why lottery tickets drive me nuts.  The notion of turning a buck into millions without working hard for it.  That’s the wrong message to send to our kids. 

Struggle and stress can be a good thing for us.  We can learn and develop from it, rather than allowing ourselves to be crushed by it.  If you are in a point in your life when you are under a lot of pressure, do what you can to learn from it.  We are all imperfect beings.  We have doubts. We cry. We fail. We have issues with our family or friends. We are all scared. You don’t have to like what is happening to you, but you probably need to understand why it is happening to you.  It will only make your wings stronger.