Credit to: The Curiosity Chronicle, The Hidden Cost of Comfort / Sahil Bloom at Sahilbloom.com
A man stumbled upon a cocoon of an emperor moth and took it home to witness its transformation.
One day, a small opening appeared. The man watched as the moth began to struggle to force its body through the tiny crack. A few hours went by as the moth wriggled, fought, and pushed—but it couldn’t seem to break through the tiny crack.
Feeling bad, the man carefully cracked the cocoon and peeled away the pieces to open up a path for the moth.
It quickly emerged, but something was wrong. Its body was swollen and its wings weren’t working. Days went by without progress. The moth never flew.
Only later did the man learn what had happened: The painful struggle to break free of the cocoon forces fluid from the moth’s body and wings. Without that struggle, the fluid was never drained and the moth was permanently incapacitated.
The “struggle” in life’s journey is often more important than the destination
Your outlook of life can change when you realize that growth feeds on meaningful struggle. When we avoid that struggle, we starve growth.
As humans, we’ve done everything we can to avoid discomfort…and to prevent those we care about from that discomfort. But it often does more harm than good.
Just like the man with the moth, we can move too quickly to “help” someone else avoid their own struggle. As concerned parents and friends, are we helping or harming?
The man had good intentions, but he was unaware that the moth was perfectly able to solve its own problem. His ignorance created a condition that would affect the life of the moth.
It seems ironic that in our desire to help, we can actually create more harm, or even create a cycle of dependency.
Look around at our society and we see examples everywhere. Good intentions gone awry.
Long-term freedom is earned through a willingness to endure short-term struggle. This sparks an important question:
What growth are you starving with the struggle you’re avoiding?
It’s easy to opt out of the struggle:
- Avoiding difficult conversations and choices
- Maintaining bad relationships
- Making poor dietary, lifestyle and financial decisions
- Turning a blind eye towards ethical dilemmas
- Taking the easy, well trodden path instead of the unknown
Growth and success isn’t a byproduct of ease. It’s a byproduct of a struggle.
So, the next time you find yourself in that struggle—feeling stuck, overwhelmed, and tempted to quit—remember the moth.
The resistance may be the very thing shaping you, or someone you love, into someone who can fly.