cocooning

Cocooning, by definition: "Retreat into the seclusion of one's own home during leisure time, as for privacy or escape."

However, when we consider cocooning for a butterfly...the cycle of renewal and complete metamorphosis that occurs it feel like quite a different definition. Well in the coaching world, under the Hudson Institute model (pictured here), the cycle of renewal includes a phase called cocooning. And it's about going inside and doing the inner work on self to find your (new) purpose and to create a new chapter for yourself. We all move through changes and transitions in life but only once or twice will we make our way around the cycle of renewal and hence our way through the cocooning phase. It is its own metamorphosis.

It's tough to say how long this phase lasts--typically once you're in it and you realize you're in it and as a result really give yourself to it, it can move more quickly. But it is a phase that's meant to move a slower pace than the other phases and really force you to slow down and do that inner work. I think I thought I moved through this phase during my grief and to some degree I probably did but what I'm realizing is there's still a lot of myself that's still cocooning. I made a hugh leap into the "go for it" phase with my career but I think I left behind myself and my personal life in cocooning. With my new sense of purpose, I'm still defining my new chapter as it relates to my whole life. And in doing so, I've found myself spending a lot of time with me, assessing all aspects of my life including the people I choose to spend my time with, the type of guy I want to marry, my family relationships, etc. And it's amazing the clarity that can come during this phase. And as a result, I can feel that my metamorphosis is starting to occur. I know the whole analogy may sound like a bit much but I do truly feel that i'm awakening into a new sense of self, one that has taken a long time for me to fully realize. And I can see as I slowly start to break open that some colors are starting to peek out and from what I can see so far, the view ahead is incredible. So look out world because a new butterfly is about to take flight onto quite a fantastic journey.

where might you be in the cycle of renewal?