These Beautiful Butterflies Remind Me That We Can Transform Our Lives, Too
My favorite photos of and life lessons learned from butterflies
Butterflies have always reminded me that new life is possible even when I feel trapped and can’t see a way out. Their transformation from caterpillars to butterflies fascinates me. That process gives me hope that I can make significant changes in my life, too.
I love to watch and photograph butterflies. One time at the park I stopped and watched some monarchs for so long that a concerned man asked me if I was okay. I assured him I was fine, just mesmerized by the butterflies.
Recently, I was inspired to sort through the many photos of butterflies I’ve taken and choose some favorites. I’ve paired those photos with reflections on the life lessons I believe butterflies can teach all of us.
I confirmed the type of butterfly in each photo and facts about their life cycles on this wonderful website: butterfliesathome.com. I especially enjoyed seeing the site’s pictures of the butterflies when they were still caterpillars. They illustrated just how dramatic the transformation is from caterpillar to butterfly!
Title image: American lady butterfly
As all butterflies do, the American lady looks dramatically different as a butterfly than it did as a caterpillar. It also looks totally different when its wings are folded together (as in the photo above) than when they are spread out! You can see what I mean here.
That difference reminds me to look beyond a person’s outward appearance to discover their true beauty.
It also reminds me that the image most of us choose to show the world is often different from what is happening inside our hearts and minds.
When we compare ourselves to someone else and wish we could be more like them, it’s not a fair comparison. We can only see the surface image, which may look prettier than ours because they have kept the unpleasant aspects of their life hidden from view.
Monarch butterflies
Monarchs are one type of butterfly that most people know by name and can recognize on sight.
Did you know that monarchs can produce four generations in a single summer? The first three generations of these butterflies live for only two to six weeks, but the fourth can live as long as nine months.
That fourth generation is the one that migrates to California or Mexico for the winter. Their mass migration, and the way they huddle together closely for warmth once they arrive, remind me that we need each other to survive.
Another fascinating fact about monarch butterflies is that when their larvae hatch they eat their own eggshells along with the milkweed plant on which their eggs were laid.
The very things that once provided a safe home become food they must consume in order to live and go on to become butterflies.
I think humans can learn an important life lesson from that. There are times in each of our lives when a place, job, or person that used to meet our needs no longer does, at least not in the same way.
The safe home they gave us during an earlier stage of our lives becomes something we don’t want or need anymore. We either leave it behind or make the changes necessary for it to nourish and sustain us in new ways.
Either way, we use what we have learned as food for our continued growth.
Queen butterfly
The queen butterfly, like the monarch, begins its life on a milkweed plant which it later eats. The milkweed plant produces a toxin that these butterflies sequester in their bodies.
That toxin gives them an unpleasant taste and can sicken or even kill many other animals. Those would-be predators quickly learn to avoid them!
What I find fascinating is that these butterflies have genetic mutations that make it possible for them to safely ingest and store the toxin. Scientists have recently discovered that some of their predators have evolved to have the same mutations!
You can read more about those mutations and how researchers identified them here.
The lesson for us? Like these butterflies and other animals, we are capable of evolving to meet life’s challenges. We can either avoid toxic people and environments or adapt in ways that make us better able to tolerate them.
Transformation is always possible
One of my favorite movie quotes is this one from Jurassic Park: “Life finds a way.” It’s in response to an assurance from the park’s director that there is no way the dinosaurs could possibly breed because all were genetically engineered to be females.
Dr. Ian Malcolm, the character played by Jeff Goldblum who made that memorable statement, also said this:
If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it’s that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh… well, there it is.
I think that’s a perfect summary of the life lessons butterflies teach us. They literally break free and expand to new territories when they hatch from their eggs and again when they emerge from their chrysalises.
They also migrate to a new location and stay close to each other for warmth and safety when necessary. They evolve so their bodies can tolerate the toxins they must eat to survive. They transform dramatically as they move from one stage of life to the next.
We can transform our lives, too. We can make whatever changes are necessary to move from one stage of our lives to another.
We can tolerate the toxic people or situations that we all encounter at some point, and decide whether to eliminate them from our lives completely or change our response to them.
We can choose to come together and celebrate each other’s inner beauty, no matter how different we look on the outside.
If you enjoyed this article, I encourage you to check out my weekly newsletter, “Changing Lives.” You can read the latest issue here.
I also want to highlight the work of two Medium writers whose articles I love: Anne Bonfert and Roshana Ariel.
Anne shares her beautiful photography; one of my many favorite articles of hers is this one about elephants.
Roshana’s articles include this one about the healing power of yawning.
