Ugly Duck To Beautiful Swan
We have all heard this story before. If you haven’t heard of this story, than I am showing my age! Let me summarize for those who don’t know:
This story follows a young duckling who is mistreated because he looks different from his siblings. The story follows with him through the journey of finding where he belongs, all as he endures rejection and loneliness. As time passes, he grows and matures, eventually discovering that he is not an ugly duckling at all, but a beautiful swan!
Moral of the story: True beauty comes from within and personal growth comes with time and self acceptance. It also shows how hardships can lead to transformation and that you should never judge someone based on their appearance.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s dive right in to what that has to do with The Ducks Journey. First of all, I relate to this duckling on some many levels, as I am sure many of you do also. Life sometimes has a way of presenting situations that we have no idea how to navigate. Sometimes the things that are presented to us, we have no control over. Things such as our looks. Could be more complex like a mental illness. For each of us it is something different. Some of us have experienced life in a constant state of turmoil and others feel like they are just going through the motions, feeling rejected and lonely. Whatever it looks like for each of us, I believe that most people want to “feel better”. Although, that is easier said than done most times!
Feeling better is such a broad term. So let’s break this down; feelings of loneliness, rejection, and self doubt come in all forms. We all experience things from childhood, that breed these seeds in us. For some people it can be something as simple as mean words spoken by classmates. For some people it runs deeper. Learning to heal from emotional trauma (no matter how big or small, each of our traumas are unique and should never be diminished) is a hard journey that many are not willing to face and heal from. Facing the fact that you may be holding yourself back. For most of us, this is true. As we get older, and become more emotionally aware of who we are, this sometimes presents people with a dilemma.
Who is to blame for why we are who we are? Why do we respond to people and situations the way we do? Why can we not accept who we are and others for who they are? Why do we repeat the patterns that we so badly want to break? Sometimes it seems easier to look at ourselves and see what others did to us to make us the way. When sometimes what we need to do is look inward and fix ourselves. Yes, those people and circumstances did make us who we are but at what point do we stop pointing fingers and change our journey to suit ourselves? When we aren’t taught how to deal with our emotions and tough situations, blame is a perfect game to play. However, I personally know that taking a look inward and fixing what is broken inside, is one of the best ways to start a journey to a more fulfilling life!
How you ask? Let me give you a little bit of background on where my transformation journey began. At this point in my life, I am in my mid 40’s. Both of my children are grown and out of the house. I, unbeknownst to me, had been following a healing journey that would end one chapter of healing and open a whole new wonderful journey. One morning, I was at work and a friend of mine came in to get some breakfast and chat. At the time we didn’t really know each other, just occasionally said hi to each other. The morning I decided to walk her to her car and continue our talk, was the morning things started to take on a different form in my head. She started to give meaning to healings that I had given myself. I didn’t realize how much growing I had been doing emotionally, until what became our daily chats, made me evaluate where I started in life and where I was at that point. One day she looked and me and said, “Heather, have you ever thought about being a life coach?” “A what” I asked. She then when on to explain to me what life coaching was. She told me basically that it is helping others to utilize the tools that I was already using to help them to be the best version of themselves. Helping others to feel their self worth from within, not from what the world says or does. Those are hard things to understand when you haven’t been given the tools to understand how you can “feel better.” I enrolled in a life coach school and started on my journey.
Figuring out where you are in your journey is sometimes overwhelming to say the least. I am thankful for the people who have stuck by my side throughout my emotional growth. I truly think those people deserve an award for helping me to walk the journey I was on. Life is hard and people can be cruel. However, life is beautiful, and transforming yourself into a beautiful swan takes time and a lot of effort. You don’t grow on your own though! Reaching out to people, researching tools to help you fix the cycles, patterns you find yourself stuck in, and putting in the work to truly understand what makes you tick are great ways to start your transformation journey from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan! Start from the inside and work outwards! You will never regret taking care of your mental health!
This one is a long one! Thank you for sticking with me until the end! Remember, a kind word to someone today could make all the difference in their day! Be kind and speak kindness!