There is a lesson in that for you, my friend. What have you outgrown? What is keeping you way smaller than you’re meant to be?
It is true that a snake, bird or insect is vulnerable during its evolutionary process and that’s why they often do it in a protected place. But, they don’t retreat to cynicism, alcohol, or excessive TV-watching as a way to cope with their molt. They aspire to be bigger and more resilient than they’ve ever been.
Underneath your externally-facing identity, which can act like a sedimentary rock with too many layers, is a fresh skin, an epidermal lifeforce that springs from the stretch marks of your past life. No more facade or defraud. It is time to let the skin flakes of your past life flutter to the ground as your glistening soul comes closer to the surface.
Shed your calloused toughness, your habits defined by your habitat, your boring routine. Get tired of yourself: what you’ve been doing, what you’ve been saying, and who you’ve been saying it to. See it all for what it’s been: your dress rehearsal to your new life.
Unchain yourself from your devotional reverence for your great “to-do” list of life and replace it with a “to-be” list, one that can unfold and adapt daily. Release yourself from the belief that life will get better if you could just pack more to-dos into today. I’ve been there, brother and sister. I’ve accelerated my velocity, catapulting myself to a new orbit, wondering why no one can keep up with me and, sadly, I realized I was outrunning my emotions. I was so existentially impatient I would competitively pass fellow travelers on the moving walkways at airports, smugly believing that faster was better. Yes, I was that jerk.
Dear friend, it is time for you to sink into your interior landscape, a place where you may feel you have an immobile heart and an unfathomable soul. It is time to delight in the wonder of the world, not just the weight of the world. It is time to appreciate your molting. In midlife, you realize time is your most valuable asset, a resource you’re not supposed to kill or waste. With time comes growing and if you’re going to grow, you need to revel in your molting.
-Chip