This word has come up many times and in many places in the last few weeks. I have lived it as well. What is glop? It is the gooey, liquid mess that is inside a chrysalis. That’s right, it is a thing. It is what the caterpillar dissolves into before it transforms into a butterfly. The most recent place I heard this was from Chip Conley when he was talking about his new book, Learning to Love Midlife. In it he shares that we are like the caterpillar in early life, consuming and growing, and the fall apart to glop in early midlife shedding our old form and identities, before transforming into a butterfly in later midlife where we become a pollinator, sharing wisdom. This rings true! The problem is that many of us resist becoming glop. I know I do. I don’t want to lose my identity, my form, my positions. I don’t want to feel like I am a mess. I cling to the old, which keeps me stuck, and most importantly, keeps me from moving on to the great life in front of me, from becoming a butterfly. Another way of looking at it I heard in Casting Crowns song is, “Your life is not falling apart, but falling into place.” It is when we feel everything is falling apart, we are losing ourselves, we are moving from being somebody to being nobody, that we are about to transform. The key is to be willing to embrace the falling apart, the entry into sadness, the cold dark water, or glop inside the chrysalis. We must be willing to let go and surrender to the process for a while. I did that in a major way in 2020 and 2021. But when I feel it coming up now, I want to avoid it again. Haven’t I already done that? Do I have to become glop again? No, but if I want to transition again, I do. And I can make it less painful by not resisting it, by accepting it and even remembering that when I feel my worst, I am heading toward a breakthrough.
Where have you resisting becoming glop? Or felt bad about feeling bad? Or felt you were alone in your sadness? We all go there. To get through it, accept it, reach out to a friend, talk about it, and remember that you are on the way to becoming a beautiful butterfly. Remember your wings also have to dry before you can fly, and your first flight will be shaky. It’s all part of the process.
Whether you are currently a caterpillar, glop, or butterfly, have a great weekend,
Art
#transition #glop #transformation #midlife #midlifetransition #growth #sadness #fallingapart
