I've been having some wonderful growth recently. It comes after making a decision to let go of the masks I'd been wearing and embracing the authentic me. That needed a bit of looking in the mirror. Thankfully there are mirrors in everyone I see. It also involved recognising what brings me true joy, feeds my soul and I feel called to do.

But historically the letting go has been the hardest for me. Much of my learning for the last 5 years has been around that.

Very recently I heard a metaphor that just connected and helped to explain what I have been experiencing.

We all know that a snake will shed its skin periodically. As a snake grows, its skin becomes stretched because its skin doesn't grow as the snake grows. They shed their skin to allow for further growth and to remove parasites that may have attached to them (growing a new skin underneath first).

So here's the thing...

The snake doesn't gather up the old skin, put it in a back pack and carry it around "just in case it needs it". Rather, it lets it go, throws it away and leaves it behind.

This isn't what I've done previously. I would diligently learn and grow, shed my skin - and then bring the old skin with me. I was weighed down by a lifetime of old skins in a battered suitcase that I carried everywhere. I had the growth bit nailed, but forgot about the letting go part.

So here I sit, about to embark on a new adventure with new challenges. The bits I need to bring are part of me now. The stuff I can let go of, the old skin, has been discarded and is already decomposing for reuse by the universe.

A big weight has been lifted and I find myself spontaneously smiling as I write this 😊.