Becoming of a Butterfly
- Oct 2
- 3 min read
By Priya Tandon
A time comes when the caterpillar must break the cocoon walls, and a butterfly must spread its wings to fly into the unknown of the vast sky. The butterfly doesn't know the colors of her wings or the heights of the flight she will have to make to survive. She only hears the heartbeat of her heart and feels the fire of courage and grit burning in her to fly. And so she does.
For many years, I, too, was buried in a cocoon that looked like a haven from outside, but inside was a tumultuous picture. I was longing to breathe.
As I continue to awaken and grow, the space inside the cocoon became tighter and tighter. I had to break the cocoon. And so I did and flew into the callings of the azure sky.
Love or a relationship can go wrong in many different ways. The changes to a human heart are incomprehensible and sometimes forever. I ended up locking the doors to my heart and throwing the key away, only to realize that one cannot contain love. The sweet emotion of love is like the force of water that can break a dam's walls.
I had so much love to give to my family, friends, neighbors, and anyone, and not just one significant relationship. I have no right to suppress what I feel and own in my veins, blood, and spirit.
Love did not fail me; it was the relationship that failed me.
An empath and a rescuer with narrow boundaries, I am guilty of creating a destiny that was not mine, but somebody else's. In the end, I had nothing left to give. I refused to continue with the solo dance of giving and fulfilling others' expectations. What I gained when I left behind my past and an assumed relationship was priceless. I embraced myself wholly and set out on the path to living life, honoring myself every day, no matter what!
I was soon to find out that healing is not linear. One day I felt great, the next was dreadful. Since healing doesn't come with a manual, I had to tailor it to my inner work's pace, with no deadlines to adhere to. My spiritual practice in solitude prompted me to delve deeper within. I saw where and what was still triggering my emotions related to the past. One by one, I could sit with those uncomfortable emotions and look at these upheavals in the eye. I knew how to calm my storm by addressing my trauma one moment at a time.
Many of us are stuck in the cocoon of circumstances. Many of us live not in alignment with our true selves or a higher purpose.
Many of us do not know how to break open the shell constructed around us. Each of us in our lifetime will have to awaken to take personal responsibility and be accountable for our lives — health, wealth, relationships, or personal development. Our past may have brought us to the present, but it does not define our future. When we shed the masks of self-doubt, self-belief, limitations, and insecurities, we break through the barriers in our conscious and unconscious minds to create and express our destiny.
Know your true self, honor your path, and live life genuinely by shattering the cocoons of narratives that we keep telling ourselves. Before the walls of beliefs, cultural conditioning, and limitations —self-imposed and circumstantial — close in, fly out of the cocoon.
The butterfly does not know it yet, but the sky eagerly awaits a butterfly to spread its colorful, empowered wings.
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