NOTE TO SELF: (and a reminder for all those who this message may resonate with, as well)
When the butterfly is getting ready to emerge, the chrysalis gets really tight and confining. The walls of the chrysalis will begin to seem as though they are closing in on the butterfly. The walls will become fragile, but seemingly impenetrable. It is at that moment that the butterfly will begin to feel panicked. She will feel the closing in of walls. She’ll feel like life is being squeezed out of her, that she can’t move, that the space is getting too small. She will feel that death is imminent. It will seem that the space that was once her safe place to heal and grow has suddenly become harsh and toxic. It will seem as though the very space, itself, is on the attack.
At that moment, the butterfly has to muster every ounce of courage that she has and hold her own. She has to trust that it is exactly as it should be and that those walls are going to soon dissolve and she is going to emerge from the space that is no longer hers and she’s going to find the space that is her match. She’s going to find the space she now belongs to because she has outgrown the chrysalis.
She’s going to remember that she is meant to fly and her wings are merely developing within those walls that were only meant to hold her through that time. Her chrysalis – the space of protection – will become the place that she must crack through to emerge anew. Like the Phoenix, she will rise from the place where the caterpillar died and she will fly free.
Remember that, Angie. In the tight spaces, the spaces that are closing in on you, it is almost time to fly. Breathe, baby. Just breathe.
And, if you need to, cry.
But, either way, be brave. This too shall pass.
