Three years ago this summer, a good friend shared a profound metaphor with me, which is our “bug body.”
As Robert Heinlein wrote, “specialization is for insects,” and when we’ve done one thing for a very long time our environment can shape us into a form of specialization, enabling us to navigate and survive in that environment. Like a bug.
And, when that environment dissipates — whether we change jobs, discontinue relationships, move to a new city, or deal with new health realities — we’re often left with a specialization (a bug body), which is no longer appropriate for our new environment.
It’s not that the specialization was good or bad, it’s that chances are good it’s no longer appropriate. The same response to our new environment no longer fits. Sort of like how dung beetles need claws, while lady bugs don’t, so a dung beetle would feel awkward bringing their big dung-moving claws to lady bug town.
Recently, a friend told me she hadn’t seen me on social media much and she wanted to make sure I was ok. I told her I was very ok and I had simply diversified how I spend my time online. My goal was to hopefully avoid the awful polarization of people that continues to rise with no end in sight. And, I told her I’m listening more and declaring less. She was actually noticing the process of me dismantling my own obsolete bug body.
What I realized this morning and want to share with you while it’s fresh on my mind, is neither you or I are our bug body. That is to say, our authentic self does not equate to our environment.
Though our environment shapes us and can mash us into a form of specialization that’s hard to release or transform, we shouldn’t identify so completely with any specialization that we mistake it for who we really are. And, although our specialization might be rigid, it doesn’t have to dictate our future.
Most importantly, although we have to muster the courage to disassemble our specialization when it know longer serves us in new environments, we must do it with patience and compassion for ourselves. Removing those dung-tumbling claws can be a painful process. We should always show ourselves the same understanding we would show any friend or loved one struggling to make adjustments to their own response to change.
We are all dealing with some sort of struggle right now, on some level. We are all in the same boat. We can also modify our responses to new environments. We can respond more appropriately with compassion for ourselves and others and experience more contentment in the face of continuous change.
~ Scott Kinnaird
Kinnaird 