We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.
Angelou names the dishonesty at the heart of how we celebrate success: we admire the result but prefer not to look at the messy, painful process that produced it. Starting over is not beautiful while you are doing it. It is confusing, humbling, and often invisible to others. The beauty comes later — and only to those who endured the transformation.
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson“You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
C.S. Lewis“The wound is the place where the light enters you.”
Rumi“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Lao Tzu