Misunderstood Ostrich
February has come and gone, and with it came more [and often times undesired] lessons from my continual life teacher, The Duke of Change. There is one thing I’ve mentioned before that I’ve grown clearer and clearer on in life — change is our only guarantee. Change is going to come — that is inevitable — and it’s a matter of how we respond, reintegrate and navigate the constant that is change. Yet despite knowing this, I never feel ready for change — even when The Duke of Change sends an advanced notice of their arrival, I mostly find myself facing the change in a delayed manner that has not always felt ideal.
Throughout the month of February my family and I experienced changes, some expected and others so unexpected that it felt shattering to daily life. I shared with a best friend that through this, I was feeling like an ostrich wanting to hide their head in the sand. Block out the world, block out my feelings, block out everything that was occurring around me until it felt less. Less challenging. Less heart-aching. Less uphill. Less grief inducing. Just less. This outside imagery of the ostrich with their head in the sand felt capturing of what I felt on the inside. Yet, upon further research I learned something that has helped me shift my perspective on navigating a life with The Duke of Change and the sometimes very, very hard feelings accompanying change.
We may have some ostrich experts in our community, so if you are one, I apologize if this is not new information. For anyone who was novice in their ostrich knowledge, like myself, I want to share the actual reason why ostriches stick their heads in the sand. It turns out, they are tending to their eggs, nestled ever so carefully in their homemade nests created just below the sand. Ostriches spend intentional time gently, carefully, lovingly tending to their eggs throughout each day and this has been misinterpreted as them sticking their heads in the ground out of fear, exhaustion or other reasons. What a powerful vision to consider the ostrich so carefully tending to their eggs under the surface.
This left me with the following untidy considerations — what if I shifted my perspective on navigating the hard ripples of change as though I am tending to delicate eggs, nestled into a fragile nest I’ve created just under my own surface? What growth and evolution could I promote by shifting just even an inch a day, one of these delicate feelings to reveal something new for myself? What if instead of blocking everything out until it feels less, I dig in to add gentle, consistent and loving care until these emotions are woven into the tiny fibers that weave together this journey of life I’m on?
Since learning this new information about ostriches, I’ve began to quite literally envision the emotions stirring under my surface as delicate eggs needing the attention of a mama ostrich — energy that is present, consistent, loving and gentle. This may be resonating for me due to the influx of maternal energy my 32 week pregnant self is feeling and if it is I’ll take it, but I’m here to say this shift in perspective is working for me. The feelings are feeling less — less heavy to carry because I’ve evolved in acceptance through my gentle tending to the nest.
My one deep intention behind this month’s outreach is to share that if you’re in the midst of a visit/consistent visits from your own Duke of Change, I hope you can find your internal mama ostrich inside of you and tend to those ripple feelings of change with present, gentle, consistent and loving care. Tend to those eggs beneath your surface and know that this community stands by your side as you do so.
With deepest love & gratitude,
Caitlin
p.s. The following images capture “Life Lately” and, would you look at that!? Turns out none of these images show even a glimmer of the hard stuff — just the levity that’s been part of this month, too! What an interesting perspective to consider :)
