"Sometimes you fall in love with the most unexpected person at the most unexpected time."
September 3, 2022
Last week an odd thing happened. Yup! An ugly thing flashed before me. It jarred my attention. Just imagine scrolling through your status and then suddenly seeing a photo of an ugly lizard. Yup! This felt like a boy on the playground waving a lizard in your face and then running away. Well, my friend who I have knighted Ambassador Rooster, Damion Whyte, @ roosters_world1, shared a photo of a moulting lizard on his status.
This photo slung my mind in another direction. Oooo yes!
You see, reptiles are just not my cup of tea. Lizard shedding skin is worse. Yet, this time something different happened. For the first time, it occurred to me that this lizard felt ugly and vulnerable. It seemed to me that shedding skin is similar to when we go out well dressed and our “pandemic shoes” decide to shed its sole. Yes, it is both inconvenient and embarrassing!
Yet, the question below the photo slung my mind in another direction. He asked: “Did you know that lizards shed their skin regularly when they outgrow their old skin?”
Somehow these words resonated: regularly outgrow old skin
They highlighted that growing or making progress should happen regularly. Consider each stage of a project or profession. Think about each milestone of a child, or even an organisation. Doesn’t each phase include the ugly, the vulnerable, and the inconvenient? As a matter of fact, we celebrate fully after the process is complete, no true?
Fo’ real, consider our days as students. When learning, studying, and practicing it is unattractive, tiring, and uncomfortable. Yet, on graduation day we all celebrate fabulously in our gowns. From there, we move on to another level in our “new skins”.
If there is no further growth, we plateau and thereafter, stagnate.
Here is another thing this lizard showed me: the new skin is within. For some strange reason I always thought that the lizard changes skin like we change our clothes. You know how it is- we take off one set and put on another. However, in this case, the new is already within. As a matter of fact, when the lizard feels “the tightness” it initiates the change by bursting its own skin. Isn’t that fascinating!
In fact, the lizard will only be able to “show off” its growth if it resists the embarrassment of being ugly, exposed or vulnerable.
Here’s a tickle: Have you noticed that personal growth takes place when your head gets bigger? Ooo yess! When we are exposed to new ideas, environments or challenges our imagination begins to grow. At this point, our mind germinates new possibilities. We research. We explore. We toddle. We even insist on overcoming obstacles because we are no longer satisfied with the way things are. The more we develop then the more confident we become. With that added confidence, we achieve even more. That’s what drives us to push through to another level.
Sometimes we are afraid to expose what is happening within. Some of us even think that it is a sign of humility to hide our new growth. As such we avoid assistance, or, we shy away from compliments. It’s worth remembering that transformation will be complete when our renewal becomes evident.
There are benefits to the shedding process too. Scientists say that the moulting process is irritating or itchy for the lizard. Perhaps the itchiness is a result of the friction between what was, what is and what will be. If things remain the same or are easy, then it’s unlikely that we will develop. The itchiness facilitates new growth.
May I stretch this metaphor further? According to Liz Langley in her National Geographic article[1] there is an added benefit to moulting:
“Shedding skin also rids animals of ectoparasites—
organisms that live on the skin of the host.”
If this is true for the lizard then it’s probable that we too will be able to rid ourselves of peculiar parasitic habits, or persons, or issues whenever we grow.
Even now there is a tune gurgling up in me. It’s Bob Marley’s Redemption Song. You know the part that comes from Marcus Garvey’s speech, right?
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Imagine- pirates, atomic energy, the prophets and even the Almighty won’t succeed unless we free our own minds. Freeing our minds leads us to action. The sort of action that brings about effective change.
So, this moulting lizard made me reflect on my own development. While I am thankful that I am not a reptile, I began to look forward to my own transformation. After all, growth takes time and discomfort. (Starting this blog is evidence of that.) Moreover, it is the result that offers lasting benefits. Rather than cuddle embarrassment or be perpetually frustrated with the process I became grateful. I began to anticipate what the new me will “look” like and the skills that will be afforded to me. Reflecting even gave me reason to look forward to my next birthday.
How about you- can you relate to the ugliness of transformation? Can you recall your own milestones as well as the benefits that were derived from the process of transformation?
Rather than being glum, let’s cheer each other on as we look forward to our expected end.
Psst! Guess what? I am also thankful for the photo but don’t tell Ambassador Rooster that part. It may encourage him to show more reptiles too soon.
Gail N. Fraser
· [1] Liz Langley, Why bugs, tarantulas, and other creatures shed their skin PUBLISHED APRIL 29, 2022, Why bugs, tarantulas, and other creatures shed their skin (nationalgeographic.com)
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