I once knew this guy, OK OK OK, it wasn't a guy, it was a worm.
This tiny, ugly worm. 🐛
He was just plugging and chugging through life.
You know...
✔ eating and pooping...
✔ He was growing bigger, so every once in awhile he would shed.
✔ Enjoying the sunshine and the rain...
You know...
enjoying life... ✔
living life to its fullest! ✔

His buddy 🐛 asked him how life was treating him.
He explained life is GREAT.
I can't imagine it ever being any better!😎

One day because of reasons unknown to him, he decided to hang down from a twig. And he started spinning a web around himself. He kept at it. Next thing he knew, all was completely dark.
He was inside what most would call a cocoon.
Then, bizarre as it sounds, he eats himself. He releases enzymes that change him into nothing more than what appears to be bug soup.
This must be the darkest point in his life. I mean, can you imagine having no eyes to see? So, it is very, very dark. And having no brain to even interpret what he would see if he had eyes. Can you imagine that?

If he could communicate at this point, he would likely tell everyone how terrible life is! He can't see and he can't even think. No more eating and pooping and shedding and getting wet and drying out and just looking around and worst of all no friends to talk to... It doesn't get much worse than that, now does it?

But inside this soup are some things called imaginal discs. These are the various parts of his future body.
Open up the cocoon at this point and that's it. He likely dies. 😪
But leave him in the darkness and protection of the cocoon and each of these discs transform into the various parts that make up a butterfly or moth. Wings, eyes, legs, antennae... ...

He can see now and his brain interprets that it is dark.
He stretches and :::poof::: the cocoon breaks open.
He sees light. He sees the world.
He flaps his wings and discovers he can fly!!!

Hey, how's life treating you?
Wrong answer...
😡 I had a period of darkness in my life.
Correct answer...
😎 I had a period of darkness in my life and I used it as an opportunity to transform myself into a way cooler being.

Next time you enjoy the beauty of a butterfly, remember this little story and rejoice that he had the strength to break through the dark part of his life!

and remember... YOU CAN, TOO!