Five Reasons Why Butterflies Bring Hope
Today we sprung forward one hour due to Daylight Savings Time and if you’re like me – you are so ready for Spring. It’s been a tough time for many over this past year, but there are many reasons to have hope for the times ahead of us. For many people, butterflies are a symbol of resurrection and new beginnings. Because March 14th is officially “Learn About Butterflies” day, I’ll be going over five reasons why butterflies can bring hope, even to the hopeless. Oh, and I’ll also sprinkle in a few facts about butterflies along the way.
There are Always Reasons to Hope
1. With transparency, there can be real growth.
Did you know that butterfly wings are transparent? As humans, it’s good for us to be transparent about ourselves with others. That façade of perfection many of us paint onto ourselves is not sustainable for the long-term, and it’s not helping anyone anyway. I’ve always found that being open and honest, even about the messy stuff in life, is best. Real transparency allows us growth. As Mark Batterson says, “You’re always one decision away from a totally different life.” When you think of it that way, it’s not so overwhelming. That one decision can help drive the next decision, and the next one. After all, if we don’t admit to others (and ourselves) those things that need to change in our lives, how will we ever grow?
2. Life is short, so don’t waste it.
After emerging as adult butterflies, most only have two to four weeks to live. Even the monarch butterflies, which can migrate up to 2500 miles in search of a warmer climate, typically only live seven to eight months. While many of us are blessed with much longer than that, none of us truly knows when our time is up. I can look back 15 years and it feels like a blink of time, and I imagine many of you are feeling the same way. Because butterflies have such a short time to live, they make every moment count. So too, should we. It’s a great big, wide world out there, with many magical memories to make and people to love. So as for your life - live it up and don’t waste it.
3. Good things take time to happen.
A newly emerged butterfly cannot immediately fly. Similarly, life takes time and practice. We must keep trying. Sometimes we fail, other times we succeed. But the best things in life can take the most time to occur, often because significant planning and preparation is needed to make way for it. The butterfly life cycle has four stages, just like in life we go through countless phases, though ours are much less linear.
Always remember that there will be intermittent setbacks, certain times when we think we have it all figured out, only to fall flat on our faces. That is perfectly ok. It’s unavoidable but it’s also necessary. After all, even after a butterfly learns to fly, if the temperature falls below 55 degrees Fahrenheit, it will be left unable to fly until the temperature warms back up. In much the same way, sometimes we think we have something we are struggling with in life or about ourselves all figured out, only to figure out that we do not. Sometimes it just takes a bit more time and effort to get to a turning point.
4. Our differences make us unique.
More than 17,500 different species of butterflies have been recorded globally. Even more astounding, at the very moment I sit at my desk writing this, there are 7,852,161,032 people in this world. We are truly like snowflakes, as humans, because not one of us is exactly alike. We do share many similarities, but it is all those differences, both subtle and major, that make us who we are. I know it’s not always easy, but always try to embrace what is uniquely YOU. I’ll keep working on doing the same with me.
5. The worst pain often leads to the greatest transformation.
There’s a quote I often think about when I’m struggling, which was from The Dark Knight and goes, “The night is always darkest just before the dawn, but I assure you, the dawn is coming.” It’s when we feel trapped within those gruesome moments when it gets to feel like it’s too much or we’re too lost. That feeling is just that – a feeling, and it will be fleeting. Hold on just a little bit longer and wait to see how it plays out. Because what often feels like the end of the world is often just the start of something brand new. Those breakthroughs are painful during the process, but when we look back upon them, we can understand how everything leads up to each of our own personal moments of metamorphosis. At that point, everything will make sense. And as for all that pain that we had to endure to get there? Oh, it’s worth it.
“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly.” ~ Richard Bach
To Moving Forward
The fact is, we can’t change the past. Whatever we went through is what we went through. Everyone’s experiences are infinitely different. Our baggage will greatly vary, but we all carry it, in one form or another. And that’s not entirely bad. You see, those things together will all play key roles in each of our own stories, and it is those things that make us who we are today.
It is possible to let the past go and use it to drive our future forward. As Socrates said, “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy on not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” The road ahead hasn’t been paved yet. We get to decide what we want to make of it. After all, we each have wings, though they may be hidden. It’s up to each of us to decide when and how we’ll fly.
Questions, comments, or just need to chat? Send me a direct message via LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram.
Cheers until next time,
Crystal
