In March, I got a tattoo of a monarch butterfly on my left arm. Butterflies are very significant in my life and mean many different things to me, all of which I constantly try to remind myself of. But one of the aspects of butterflies that has been standing out to me the most here recently is their representation of change.

Change is a process. It does not happen overnight, and it is usually not easy, either. A beautiful quote I really love is “If nothing changed, there would be no butterflies.” I have it on my wall because I want to embrace change with open arms instead of shying away from it. Change can be hard and scary, as well as exhausting and sometimes painful. Recently, someone told me that change happens gradually over time, not all at once. She reminded me that that is what the beautiful insect on my arm means. This is important to remember in order to give ourselves grace and time. Life takes time, intentionality, and practice. It’s something we should think about often because we live in a fast-paced and rushed world full of chaos, pressure, and stress.

I’ve had a lot of changes in my life recently, one of which is making the decision to pursue writing as my career. I had planned on going into early childhood education, as I decided I wanted to be a teacher a couple of years ago, when I was getting ready to graduate high school. But a little while ago, I realized that I wanted to follow a different path in life and pursue my dream of writing full-time. At first, the idea of switching scared me a lot because I thought I knew what I wanted to do – teach little kids. I wondered if by switching career paths, I would be betraying myself or making the wrong decision. After all, I thought I knew what I was supposed to do in life. Maybe changing my mind would be a big mistake.

But then I remembered the best piece of advice anyone ever gave me. You are allowed to change your mind if it brings you closer to yourself. This truly shows the beauty of change, and that if change puts you on the path you are called to follow, you should consider going along with it. We are constantly changing and growing. If we choose to hold on to what we thought we were meant to do, even if we’ve changed and are being pulled in another direction, then we might miss out on learning more about who we are and who we want to be. Dreams don’t become reality if fear of change keeps us holding on to old plans that might not be relevant to us anymore. Just because something was right for us before or was what we used to want does not mean that we are meant to do that forever. You can change your mind if it brings you closer to the person you are.

Now, I’ve fully accepted my change of mind and am excited to see how my life keeps changing as I take more steps to learn more about the person I am. Change is beautiful because it means that we are not stuck in place and are able to grow and develop as we progress through life. I admit that change can be a challenging process full of anxiety and unknowns. I would be lying if I said that it doesn’t scare me. But change is also a grand adventure that helps us spread our wings and fly like butterflies as we find our way closer to who we are.

-Via