The Caterpillar Dissolves Before It Becomes a Butterfly

Watching a caterpillar form a chrysalis and then emerge as a butterfly is an incredible process. Somehow there is an internal knowing that it’s time to change from a more limited existence to a freer, more beautiful state. While in the chrysalis, the caterpillar literally dissolves and reforms into a completely different creature. It doesn’t think about this or fear the process, it just does it.

We also have an internal awareness that says it’s time to make changes in our lives, to release the old and become who we’re meant to be. However, as humans, we think a lot about the past and worry about the future. We try to use logic and reason to make sure the next step is safe. This can hold us back from trusting our sense that it’s time to let go of the old version of ourselves and move into a new version.

The process of moving into this new stage can look like our lives are falling apart. It often involves some sort of crisis, either in external circumstances or in our emotional and mental states, or both. We might lose people we love, jobs, homes, a lifestyle. We re-evaluate our lives, review our past decisions, grieve what we’ve lost.  It can be painful, destabilizing, and frightening.  We can’t see the future while the past is dissolving. We wonder if life will ever be good again. But if we step back and look at this from a higher perspective, we can accept that we’re in the chrysalis dissolving like the caterpillar and trust that our new self will inevitably emerge, transformed by the process.

I’ve experienced this process several times as I’ve gone through major life changes. Some of them have been difficult. I’ve been widowed, remarried, then divorced.  Some of them have been positive, such as teaching English in China or starting my own energy healing business. Each of them has involved letting something go and discovering a new version of myself. I’ve found that if I choose not to resist the process and the emotions and look for the lessons and the good that can come out of even the most difficult circumstances, I come out the other side in a much better place.

If you’re going through a major life transition, allow yourself to feel all your emotions, but don’t be afraid that you’ll be stuck there forever. Be open to the new life that awaits you on the other side.  One day you may find yourself looking back on your old life feeling grateful for who you have become.

February 2023