Personal growth is a slow journey. It requires patience, consistency, and befriending acceptance. The other day, I had a growth spurt, a fog-clearing moment around the topic of exile. I want to share this learning as I suspect it may resonate with others.
I don’t remember first hearing the tale of the ugly duckling — I was young — but it’s a fairy tale wedged in my soul. You likely know the story as well.
A duck hatches her eggs, and out pop beautiful, fluffy, and cute ducklings. Except one of the ‘ducklings’ isn’t so beautiful; he’s different. And because he’s different, he’s mocked, shamed, ridiculed, and ostracised by his own siblings and the wider community.
Eventually, things get so bad for the Ugly Duckling that even his ‘mother’ turns on him. It is safer for him to leave the group and wander aimlessly out into the wide open world than to stay where he knows with every fibre of his body that he is not wanted.
And so he wanders through the winter, occasion…
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.