MeMo: Like a Caterpillar Emerges as a Butterfly, It’s OK to Be in Your Cocoon

Last year, we studied the process of transformation from how a caterpillar emerges as a butterfly and I realized it’s ok to be in your cocoon until you are ready to emerge as a butterfly yourself. As we studied butterflies and I was amazed at the entire process. We were full-time travelers in our RV at the time. On travel days, I would take the cup with the caterpillars cocooned in their chrysalises and put it in my car’s cup holder to make sure our little caterpillar companions were safe for travel days, excited for the transformation.

It was incredible how strongly the chrysalis was attached to the top of the container. As we traveled to our destination, I was amazed at how the chrysalis stayed securely attached despite the turbulence of traveling down the highway. I suppose nature and wind storms aren’t exactly gentle, but I was enamored with these little creatures in their cocoon.

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Waiting for a Caterpillar to Emerge as a Butterfly

As the days passed, we anxiously awaited the for the day a caterpillar would to emerge as a butterfly. Once a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly and begins its evacuation from the chrysalis, the process is called eclosion. In the struggle to emerge from the chrysalis, a butterfly must move its wings. 

Exercising their wings is critical because it permits meconium to be moved into them, which then allows the butterfly to stretch its wrinkled wings to dry. After the wings are dry, the meconium is driven back into the butterfly’s body, leaving a little in the wings, which strengthens them for flight. If any part of the process of eclosion is hindered, the little butterfly may never fly.

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How can we learn from the butterfly?

The past decade I’ve been like a caterpillar making my way through life. I’ve been eating up all the information I can, digesting it, and taking in more. I read many parenting books when I had babies and toddlers, trying to do the best I could and learn from others before me. As we hit the road in the RV in the Spring of 2020, I felt like I had gone into a cocoon. Many people asked if we would be on YouTube or share our journey, but I felt so strongly like it was a special time our family needed to explore, reunite, and connect. It took me until January of 2022 to be at a point where I was ready to share more publicly our journey. My goal was never to be a travel blogger or Instagram star, as much as it was to shine my inner light everywhere I went.

It’s OK to be in your own cocoon for as long as you need to in order to emerge as the butterfly you’re meant to be. One day, you too, will fly.

-BG Barnstormer

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Encouragement From Friends While in My Cocoon

I continued to connect with people who said again and again, “You should write, share your ideas and thoughts with the world.” So, after much encouragement from friends, here I am with you today. I have finally been emerging from my chrysalis, learning to exercise my wings, so that I can fly (both figuratively and literally.) In this process, I have found that being on the road changed my perspective on life, education, and more. It was no longer “keeping up with the Joneses,” about having a perfect house and yard to raise my kids, a Pinterest-perfect birthday party, what school the kids went to, and if they were in enough activities. I have never been a person to have every night of the week booked with activities for us or the kids.

We want to have connection and experiences with our loved ones. We want to raise incredible humans who can think, create, explore, and impact the world. We want to grow close as a family, share our love of learning, and creativity with others.

We needed time as a family to be in our chrysalis of an RV, cocooned on our own adventure to be able to figure out how to transform the caterpillars we were into butterflies, and now stretch our wings in order to fly.

-BG Barnstormer

Stay tuned as I take you back in time in the pages of my life, for the first time authentically sharing my story and how I got to where I am today.

Have you ever been like a caterpillar? It’s OK to be in your cocoon as long as you need to in order to emerge as a butterfly, stretch your wings, and fly.

Signing Off,

BG Barnstormer

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