I want to tell you a tale,  a harrowing adventure that I had, just other day…

It was, life and death! What will happen NEXT?!

It involved a butterfly, moving vehicles, and a narrow escape.

Enter… a car.

I had a meeting with a restauranteur. I love food and restaurants and want to know more about actually doing that, so I met with this restauranteur guy, it was really fun.

I left happy and care free, I’ve literally never heard a human being speak so fast, however. Then, I got into my car.

I backed out of my parking space, and started to drive away….

[where the plot THICKENS]

Enter… a butterfly.

… until! I noticed! There was a butterfly, clinging for life… on the hood of my car!

And for some reason, how butterflies are built, the butterfly couldn’t take off and fly away while I was moving.

And… I couldn’t stop the car! Too much traffic. flying everywhere!

I had cars behind me and in front of me, so I slowed to a crawl.

I was that annoying person in the parking lot that is driving so slow, she might as well have been driving backwards.

But… I am not going to accelerate and risk a butterfly’s demise, you know?

I have standards. And, priorities.

Enter… a very, very slow drive. Lots of honking.

There was honking – everywhere.

Instead of speeding up, I just took the heat.

These cars can’t see my butterfly’s peril, they just see me in a really, really slow moving vehicle (doing something with my iPhone out of the car window — which was, of course, taking a picture of the butterfly).

It seemed like I would never reach a place I could stop… Until…

I got to the other end of the parking lot.

[where plot, very slightly, TWISTS]

Enter… butterfly freedom!

Once I reached the other side, out of traffic, I stopped the car.

And, lo and behold, the very instant that the car stopped, the butterfly took off. Narrow escape!

The butterfly, apparently, was thinking the very same thing that I was:

Just hold on until the car stops moving.

He flew into the trees and never looked back. I don’t even know where he (or she) landed.

I started laughing. Not sure why (well, I am now — keep reading).

The more I thought, the more I learned from this tale of adventure…

(here is where we get to the point of me telling you about this harrowing tale)

Lessons: from the butterfly’s perspective.

(1) just hang on.

If stuff is just out of control busy and chaotic and there (really) is nothing that can be done to eliminate the chaos today, hold on until stuff gets better.

If you are in a situation that feels like a killer, and you don’t know what to do, just hold on and your window of freedom will find you.

• Whether it’s the crap-erson job that you’re in where you manage 20 deals and have no life…
• Or, your (seeming) inability to be normal around the food, no matter how hard you try…
• Or, you used fertility drugs and have multiples and not enough hands to change diapers…

The merry-go-round always stops, or at least slightly slow, and you’ll be okay.

(2) fly away.

When your window of freedom finds you, take it. FLY. Don’t hesitate, don’t look back.

Change made for the sake of your freedom is change you won’t regret. Or, put another way, you’ll never regret risks you take for love (instead of grasping at the car you have, out of fear).

• Some poor fool will offer to babysit your multiples…
• Taking the new job…

You may be changing paths dramatically and that is always scary. You may be, finally, putting your own health and well-being first, before all else. That is always scary, at first, too.

But if you never fly, you’ll never be free.

Lessons: from my perspective.

(1) you may look like a weirdo, to other people, when you’re doing something important to you.

• Are you trying a new business venture that your parents do not understand?
• Are you leaving a job you love?
• Are you eating according to your appetite and no longer cleaning your plate with the rest of your friends.

Doing what matters to you won’t always make sense to other people. In fact, nothing makes sense to everyone.

Especially when you’re doing something out of the ordinary… people won’t get why you’re doing it. They’ll honk.

And, it helps if you understand that they are honking because they don’t have the eyes to see what you do.

(2) you won’t regret doing the right thing.

I could have sped up, to be more convenient to other drivers. Other days, I might have done so.

But, that day, I wanted to save the butterfly. It felt like the right thing to do.

It made me so happy to do the right thing in the face of what-everyone-else-wanted, that I spontaneously laughed. Happiness bubbled up. Unexpected and wonderful.

The honking memories disappear. The honkers may or may not retract their honks, but it doesn’t matter to you.

You might be holding on for dear life right now.

Or, doing something that is different, among loads of honking.  You won’t regret the hanging on, or the doing.

The wild ride will stop. You’ll reap the rewards of you doing what is right for you.

And, your tale of adventure and woe will be like this one.

It will feel like a really big deal at the time! But, really, it was always okay.

You were just a little butterfly on the hood of a kind car, rolling you to safety.

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