A few days ago, Alla and I saw a butterfly, an unusually tiny one and it made us smile. Okay, so it’s not as if we don’t see butterflies here. We do, on a daily basis. This just looked different from the usual ones we see. Then I remembered a story my Lolo (Grandfather) told me when was a kid.
"A little boy saw a butterfly struggling to come out of its cocoon.
He watched how the butterfly was really a having a hard time and he felt that he needed to help the butterfly.
So he pulled the butterfly out of its cocoon expecting it to fly but the butterfly couldn’t.
It couldn’t even open its wings.
The butterfly was never able to fly."
I wondered why and of course my Lolo carefully explained it to me. The butterfly’s struggle to get out of its own cocoon was a necessary process so that it could shed what was wrapped around it. Shedding this would allow the butterfly to open its wings and do what it was set out to do - fly.
I’ve had a lot of struggles and hardships in my life, especially after my grandfather passed away and after more than 2 decades, it was only now that I understood this story.
We all would experience hardships and struggles and it would not stop because it is necessary. These events in our life help shape who we become. It helps us shed what we don’t need in order for us to grow.
While it is great to seek help and you should when you need to, the experience of coming out from our struggles is something that we would always do on our own.
It’s all you. No one can do it for you.
