Embracing the "Molt"

I’m always amazed at how well nature mimics our everyday lives. We live in a world where everything is so automated that we forget we’re innately organic. Our very being is rooted in our ability to influence the environment and create positive impact. Ultimately, the choice is up to us to determine the breadth and depth of our influence.

Everything new we have yet to experience requires us making a choice. We can choose to embrace change and utilize it as a spring board for innovation, or we can collapse under the weight of the unexpected. Certainly, at this moment we are facing insurmountable changes and the unexpected with the current #COVID19 pandemic. Our world has changed right before our eyes. Some of us were prepared for it, but many of us (like me) reacted using whatever knowledge we could to sustain our physical and mental health.

Over the last couple of weeks, I too have utilized a combination of old habits and thought patterns to make sense of my world. Relying on past experiences to cope and establish clarity brought me great comfort in a lot of ways. However, what I’ve realized is that it is this very comfort that’s paralyzing my ability to react creatively. Don’t get me wrong, we all need moments of familiarity but embracing what we don’t know expands our horizons.

The present #quarantine has given me a great deal of time to reflect on who I am and what impact I would like to make. As I thought about multiple ways to achieve this, I am constantly reminded of a process that occurs frequently in nature. The process I’m referring to is called, “molting”. Molting happens periodically across a number of different animal species including: crabs, insects and snakes. During the molting process, the surface layer of skin known as the epidermis separates from the body to allow the formation of a larger and stronger exoskeleton.

It requires sacrifice, patience and one major drawback to this process is that it leaves the animal incapacitated and vulnerable to predators. Doesn’t this process sound familiar to you? Every period in my life where I had to evolve and prepare for the next step required a “molt”. No I didn’t physically shed my skin, but I shed my mental and emotional shells. Those psychological coverings we adopt when facing hard and confusing times or when admiring positive past moments.

Whether or not experiences we face are positive or negative, we assign mental patterns as leverage when facing new challenges. But what happens when these tools no longer work or serve to elevate you to the next level you’re striving for? That’s where embracing the molt becomes ever so important. Below I briefly describe a series of steps that detail the mental molt we all must endure to reach higher levels (whatever that means for you).

1.      Awareness of change

2.      Stillness

3.      Vulnerability

4.      Allow room for growth

 Awareness of change

It’s important to take a mental note of the changes that are occurring around you. This is the beginning of the molting process. We can’t react effectively if fail to acknowledge with awareness the need to adapt.

Stillness

Just like in nature, animals initiating the molting process become still, literally ceasing to move about normally. We too, must allow the time for stillness and introspection. Being still allows for reflection on where we’ve been and where we have yet to go. More importantly, it gives us a head start on our mission to seize the next moment or venture with bravery.

Vulnerability

During the molting phase in nature, insects are totally vulnerable to predators due to the softness of their developing new outer shell. This mimics the vulnerability we all must sometimes face when we’re developing and preparing our selves for new phases. We may even find ourselves open to the opinions and feedback of others. However, what we stand to gain is far greater than any form of criticism. After all, no one can fully understand the potential that lies in your molting process.

Allow room for growth

When the molting process is complete, insects still must continue to expand their new covering, so it is big enough to create space for continued growth. As we develop new mental shells and approaches to our changing world, we too must continue to expand our perspective and scope. Doing so allows for sustained agility and adaptability as we leverage new viewpoints and opportunities.

Molting takes hard work, sometimes occurring over the span of a few hours to even days. We all undergo some form of it at various points in our personal and professional lives. The beauty lies in the ability for us to seize and capitalize on the awareness molting brings. As you continue adopting new ways of functioning in our ever-evolving world, acknowledge the changes and embrace the molt.

#embracingthemolt

For my science lovers, here is a brief insect molting video below: