Lessons from a Stick bug

Each creature big and small has it's place. Sometimes their purpose is abundantly clear and other times more subtle.

Every now and then the hidden creatures that are created to blend into their surroundings want to explore a different and new world that makes them stand out and seem out of place, more vulnerable to predators. Yet On the other hand, how can we appreciate a their unique qualities if they are always in hiding?

A few years ago I was fascinated by the all the beauty held in the little things around me. The veins in leaves, The delicate striations under mushroom caps. The way frost kissed berries and outlined every intricate edge and depression.

The shadow of a leaf upon another leaf in just the right light. The things we so easily bypass with out a second thought. I was drawn into a mirco-aspect of life. I felt like I had stepped into a whole new world of beauty and a world of wonder and got thinking to myself why don’t we see this? Why AM I noticing this now?

Turbulent beginnings in my early life led me to always want to hide, to play small to be invisible. If I stepped out and had the courage to be seen, I was quickly and swiftly muzzled and put neatly back in my place. I carried these lessons through out my life.

The consequences of these early lessons came to a head after my youngest was born and I dropped into a deep post-partum depression. I was so grateful for my children but I just felt like the ME in Mommy was missing.

I had always toyed with the idea of writing. Of books, starting a blog, creating a career around things I was passionate about. The healing power of art, lessons in nature and the idea of striving to be a better version of the person you were yesterday.

Protected by the walls of my home for the past 16 years I felt like I was in a bubble. I had no idea who I was, no idea what I could do and if anyone would even care. I felt like I was still always hiding. Always playing the chameleon. At home, in friendships, out in public. Always afraid

"The Me in Mommy was missing"

A few years ago I was helping a friend with farm chores. Feed the chickens, collect the eggs, milk the goats, catch the goat that ran away. Goats a fussy eaters they need fresh hay every day.

It was on a crisp fall morning as the dew still shone on the grass, the damp leaves dulled the sound of my foot steps like a blanket under my feet. As I was walking back towards the barn to lock up. My eyes traveled up the edge of the stark white painted door and there right on the layers of paint in various stages of peeling, I saw something Strange. I saw something that clearly didn’t belong. It was a dark long shape about the size of my hand. I had never really seen one outside before. There on the door was a stick bug.

I was struck more by the fact it was clearly not camouflaged. These creatures are designed by nature to blend in to go unnoticed to disappear among the branches. Yet here was this stick bug its stickly glory, Knobby knees, endlessly long antenna, its long angular body, just hanging there.

I imagined the tiny claws he must have on the ends of his limbs that allow him to be able to stay in that vertical position. It stood there in stark contrast to the weathered white paint of the barn door. I couldn’t help but stop to watch him. What was he doing out here. He could be picked up by a bird. I could squash him. A rodent might find him tasty.

I felt a strange interest into the nature of this bug. They can be still for hours. They can change colours to blend in. They can regrow a limb if one gets yanked off.

But what was he doing against a white painted door???

No Grass. No branches. No place to hide.

The idea of this stick bug just out in the open weighed on my mind throughout the day. Did he get lost? Was he confused? What was he thinking? He was so far from home it didn’t

make sense.

But then maybe I was being too closed in my thinking…

Maybe he was tired of blending in and being invisible. Maybe he needed to change things up and try something new. Maybe he wanted to be seen, by someone, anyone.

Maybe I needed to see him that day.

To understand that just because I may have been molded to play small to, hide and be invisible to survive doesn’t mean I have to live the typical stick bug life.

I could stand out in my own way. Yes, there are risks. Yes, not everyone will like me. Yes, well meaning people will want to put me back neatly in my place. But today I take on the courage of that stick bug, to make my difference however small.

I believe lessons come in all forms and I believe if we are open enough, we can learn from even the humblest of creatures. The world is working for you, if you are open to see it, if you can slow down to hear it. Heed its lesson and have the courage to do something you have never done.

How can you possibly know who you are when you are always in hiding?

How can you possibly know what you are capable of if you are always trying to blend in with everyone else.

I still think of that stick bug saying come brave little creature, come out to play and explore this scary new world with me.

#lifelessons #growing #stickbugs #hiding #free #mentors #Nature