Metamorphosis

How does it feel noticing you’re losing the last contact, the last physical touch with the country you were born in, grew up in, with the ground that nourished you, the grass you rolled around in as a child and you touched too little when you were older? How does it feel to notice the artificial bird you’re on is taking off into the sky, attempting to master the volatile character of the higher, earthly atmospheres dreaming of flying you all the way to another piece of land, another country, another continent even? How does it feel to aboard the plane that will take you on your trip of a lifetime? It feels frightening, gives you goosebumps, makes you doubt every decision you’d made until that moment. It feels exciting, makes your adrenaline level rise to unexpected heights, makes you feel alive, triggers your imagination in ways you could’ve never imagined before, triggers the daydreamer in you to rise above himself and believe dreams can come true!

Before I left and jumped on that metallic bird a wise person told me: “Traveling is like dying a little bit. Every time you go away, you leave a peace of yourself. Wherever you’re off to, you know you are leaving the old you, exchanging it for a new – and hopefully improved – version of yourself”. Saying goodbye to family and friends, feeling myself literally rise above my country, watching it in all its simplicity – a beauty I take for granted too often – from the sky truly felt like dying a bit. Having to let go, knowing nothing will ever be the same, seeing everything from a different point of view.

But let’s not be too dramatic, the best thing about an end is that it’s followed by a new beginning and what makes it even better is that we all have the power to shape this new beginning, mold it into something we could be proud of. Sculpt it into a beautiful work of art! The best thing about dying is the rebirth that comes with it and “renaissance” was always my favorite part of antique history!

My rebirth is a fact, my walkabout has started, my adventure in the Australian wilderness – in the blueprint of its big cities, in the wild waves of its untameable oceans, in the infinity of its wide open landscapes, in the drought and cruelty of its deserts, in the poison of its venomous animals, in the charm of its exotic character. RIP the old Delphine, a warm embrace to the new, enriched version of myself!

Like a caterpillar I enjoyed the comfort of the warm, protective cocoon I called home until now. Packing up, saying goodbye, boarding that big metallic bird, made my warm cocoon burst a bit. The small cracks in its tough skin are becoming bigger and they will rip soon, there’s no way around it. It will be frightening to leave my securities, everything I was used to, everything that grew on me and I took for granted too often behind. It will be scary to be the protagonist of a big transformation, of a drastic change, but how rare is it to undergo a metamorphosis, die and be reborn again in one lifetime?! As far as we know there’s only the butterfly who’s capable of dying, leaving its old, unappreciated body and being reborn into the most breathtaking little wonder of nature.

I feel the cracks in my cocoon, I feel I’m shedding my old skin, but I don’t know yet what it feels like to spread my wings, gaze at the sun wrapped in a new body, hesitate a little, but then, with a determination I’ve never know before, a strength I didn’t think I had in me, take off and fly…