I once read the story of the little boy who could not stand to see that wonderful butterfly struggle to get out of his cocoon so he got scissors and cut a bigger opening to help it get out. The boy then could not understand why the butterfly looked so deformed, why the butterfly’s wings were not stretched out and he could not fly.
After the fact, the boy found out that it was the struggle of emerging from the cocoon that caused fluids in the butterfly’s body to expand into the wings so that it could fly. It was in that struggle to get out of the small hole that the butterfly properly developed its body to be able to look so pretty and fly.
In our world we keep working to make life easier for those who come after us; we try to make things less hard for our kids than we faced in the world. But are we helping those who will someday have this world in their hands by taking away the struggle to get past the things that will help them grow?
The great thing about us humans is that, even if we take the easy way out when we are younger, we can get the chance to someday go back through that struggle and grow into what we were meant to be.
For myself, when I was younger I looked for all the ways to get the easy way out. I was always searching for a short cut to get to the success circle. Yes, I arrived a few times, but the success was short lived. It was not until I faced the fact that I had to go through the struggles instead of avoiding them that I was able to learn the lessons and find my purpose in this world.
As for the butterfly, if it does not go through that struggle, it will not be able to fly for life; its body will be enlarged and have wings that will not work. It’s a problem that cannot be fixed.
The full story of the butterfly is that it begins life as a caterpillar, turns into a cocoon where a metamorphosis takes place inside, then goes through the struggle of exiting that small hole in the cocoon, it enters a new world to become a work of beauty.
What shortcuts have you asked others to do for you that have prevented you from the struggle that could have brought you to proper growth? Are you holding someone else back in your world because you are trying to make life easy for him or her, trying to cut that person out of the cocoon?
Next time you look at a butterfly, think of its wonderful wings and how it had to struggle to get them. Remind yourself that whatever struggle you are going through will give you that beauty and strength in your life. Next, think before you work to make life easy for someone you love; remember that butterfly and imagine that person you love becoming that butterfly. The struggle creates the beauty and strength in lives.
Tim Gillette is the Creator of The Rock’N’Roll Keys to Business Success, using music, motorcycles and mentorship to create Entrepreneurs who lead. To find out more about upcoming webinars sign up here . Free Online Training that Rocks
