If you live in San Antonio, you have probably noticed the abundance of butterflies throughout the city. It’s the yearly migration of the Monarch Butterflies. Seeing so many butterflies had me reflecting on my own transformation that I have gone through these last couple of years. People say you change in your 20’s and change I have! With my last year in my 20’s one thing that has definitely imprinted on me is that the changes never stop, you always continue to grow, learn and experience (both good and bad) because life never goes as planned.

I recently came a across a beautiful quote that made me think of the changes of the butterfly.

 “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly……”

There are many moments in our lives where everything seems to go completely wrong. We huff and puff and put blame on the world and everything that surrounds us. We get so mad at life for not going the way it was supposed to go that we ultimately get exhausted. We get exhausted of the battle we are fighting against the world and ourselves that we surrender. When we surrender we start the transformation and become the most amazing beautiful butterfly. We learn to spread our wings to fly and learn to live, laugh and love again.

I was definitely fighting a battle with the world, an unknown battle where I was putting blame on life and hating myself. What is so wrong with me? Why can’t I be happy? Why did my Mom have to leave me so soon? Why can’t she be here to help me and guide me out of this darkness? Why did it have to happen this way? Why was I left with the broken pieces to put back together? Why am I so alone? It’s a dark struggle and it’s even harder to get out of if you don’t surrender. Eventually I  learned not to hate life, that I was not alone, and I should not to put blame on the world  and others. You see I was the little caterpillar searching for my place in life, feeling alone, unhappy, and with no understanding of my purpose.  I had to take time to focus on myself, to build on my self-confidence, to build new relationships and to take into account the tools I had within myself to realize my full potential to change MY WORLD. That was when beautiful changes started to happen.

Trust me the butterfly is proof that you can go through a great deal of darkness yet become something beautiful.

My journey is not yet over, there are days when I still feel lost but I remember that it is ok to have those days just don’t stay there, its important to keep moving forward and to not stay stuck in a slump.  We all have our challenges but the way we handle them is a reflection of who we are. Do not let the darkness over take your life, there is always a way back to happiness, surrender to the light of life, to the crazy/beautiful unknown of life, and you find yourself becoming an amazing beautiful butterfly navigating through life.

Live, laugh and love always.

Lyssa