When a caterpillar is born, do they know what’s in store for them?
I mean, they come into the world, and discover that their life is pretty messy. They crawl in the dirt, eat leaves, and probably don’t move more than a few hundred square feet from where they were born.
They constantly are in danger of getting squashed by humans and other animals, eaten by predators, and move so slow that their only defense is that they can blend into a background.
I wonder if some days they look up and see those birds that constantly try and eat them and wish they could fly?
I wonder if they realize that some day they will not look anything like they did before and have amazing powers and abilities beyond what they have now?
I wonder if they know that a transformation will take place, and I wonder if they dread it. I wonder if they are afraid of the process they must go through to turn into a butterfly?
The caterpillar MUST essentially die, go into a cocoon, and wait days for their transformation to take place. I wonder if that process is scary, painful, or perhaps undesirable for the caterpillar. I wonder if they fight this natural process they must go through in order to get wings, color, and freedom.
Do they secretly desire to stay crawling in the dirt, subject to nature and predators? Do they tell their maker, “NO!” It’s too hard, it’s too scary! I’m fine right where I am! I can make this work – just let me hang on.
Of course – this is all speculation, but when I watch the highest form of life approach this same metamorphosis – they seem to act like a caterpillar that is fighting to become a butterfly.
We fight the process of becoming colorful, strong, free – we fight our true identity inside by demanding we stay caterpillars, because that is what we know, and we fear the ability to fly, the ability to go to new heights. As we stay caterpillars, we deny the butterfly inside of us and we crave the comfortable.
At some point, every entrepreneur – heck – every person reaches a point in their life where the time has come to stop crawling. Time to stop ducking their heads behind leaves and avoiding predators. They face a time where they must give up their life – what they know and what they understand – to allow the metamorphosis to occur. To allow something to die and then surrender to a process that turns them into their true selves. Their reason for living, their true selves. For their heart to be exposed and for the world to see them as who they are, and for their gifts and passions to come through and bring beauty into the world.
So caterpillar, are you afraid of becoming a butterfly?