My parents house was the nest that this bird came back to over and over. I use to joke with my family the first time I wanted to move out. My dad didn’t think that was a good idea. I would answer, “But I’m a bird dad, you have to let me fly”
The first time I came back, he was quick to say “broken wing?”
The second time I thought that maybe I should stop trying to fly because coming back with a broken wing didn’t make me feel good. I liked the idea of flying and I’ve never liked feeling like I was being held down, so flying equaled freedom to me. But no one ever tells you that flying feels a lot like falling.
In flying there is power. It’s a way of living life with everything placed under your feet and being so high up that snakes and traps can’t reach you. They can’t even touch you.
How do you learn to fly?
I can tell you from experience what you don’t do.
You don’t just try to add wings and call it flying.
Adding wings to caterpillars does not create butterflies. It creates awkward and dysfunctional caterpillars.
Birds learn to fly through training. Butterflies are created through transformation.
When birds are learning to fly they fall from the nest and make the long trip back to it (what I kept doing). They repeat the process until they get the strength and endurance to learn to use what they carry.
Butterflies grow into them. Blood is shed. They feel like they’re dying but what feels like the end is only their new beginning.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://bossbabeliving.home.blog/2021/02/05/focus-on-things-above-youll-grow-wings/
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