Transformation: Caterpillar to Butterfly

You might never get the chance to witness metamorphosis in real life as it is rare, but I urge you to watch a video of a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. It’s one of the oddest, yet satisfying changes to take place on this planet. What does it matter to humans, though? Well, imagine you’re the butterfly.

Starting line

We have the power and ability to change many things in our lives. Our circumstances, outlook, productivity level, and much, much more. However, things will happen in life out of our power, some good and bad. But it’s up to us not to let environmental outcomes dictate our anger, satisfaction, or overall emotional well-being. The essence of time and how it matters to us is just as vital to our transformation.

By taking advantage of our concept of time, we allow ourselves to understand how we can ultimately make use of everything that has happened in our lives and to eventually, transform. Timing matters, but first, you must start. The starting line is where you will first attempt to grow and transform. Yet, as with any well thought out process, there are stages.

“Stages are steps taken, milestones achieved.”

Stages

Breaking down a math problem, reading an entire dissertation on quantum theory, and studying socioeconomic status’ and how they help shape our world, all have one thing in common, stages. Without stages of life, where would we be? What are the stages of life? Well, the life cycle for humans starts as a baby, then an infant, a kid, a teenager, an adult, and an elderly adult. These are all stages of life that come together to make a comprehensive human experience. Yet, there are way more stages to life than age gaps.

You see, there are stages to everything, and they all matter. If something terrible happens in your life, such as racking up debt or a falling out with a parent, various stages took place to get to those places, and other stages need to occur to get out. Maybe you racked up the debt by living above your means because you didn’t have certain things growing up. So, when you journeyed out on your own, you decided to supply yourself with specific items. Or, maybe you’ve fallen out with a parent because they never really accepted you for you, and it hurts.

You experienced differing stages throughout the transition of having no debt to accumulating a lot or having a great relationship with a parent to a nonexistent one. Through those stages, things could have gotten better or worse. For example, if you finally started paying off your debt, but you decided you need the latest computer, a stage of discretionary spending occurred, and now you’re in further debt. Or if your relationship with a parent is great until a stage in life comes along where they alter your trust for them by embarrassing you. The critical thing to remember with any stage, though, is they don’t last forever.

Transform

Stages allow you to transform in a way nothing else can. By going through different times in your life, for better or worse, you transform yourself into a more experienced individual. Without stages, you couldn’t complete the process of your transformation. If a caterpillar never wraps silk around a bush to hold itself up while going through a metamorphosis, it would fall, and the transformation would never take place.

In the same way, we must face every stage of transforming within our own lives with unbridled confidence. Without the proper steps taken, we can never truly transform into who we want to be. We will never grow if we aren’t willing to go through a process, no matter how grueling it is.

Transformation is a dramatic change to something other than what you already are, and such a dramatic change doesn’t come without the cost of hard work and sacrifice. It lines up with the saying, “to get a little; you must give a little.” Your transformation sits squarely on your ability to adapt to altering stages throughout your life. You won’t always be able to dunk a basketball, be a kid again, or solve a problem. But what you can do is transform. From now, until forever, you can transform and adapt to whichever circumstances you encounter.