{"id":146454,"date":"2025-04-23T14:27:44","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T12:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=146454"},"modified":"2025-04-23T14:27:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T12:27:47","slug":"the-wings-we-cant-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=146454","title":{"rendered":"The Wings We Can\u2019t See"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s this quote that\u2019s been stuck in my head:<br \/><em>\u201cButterflies can\u2019t see their wings. They can\u2019t see how truly beautiful they are, but everyone else can. People are like that as well.\u201d<\/em><br \/>Naya Rivera said that. And the truth in it is hard to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Butterfly Garden 4K  Relaxing Insect Film with Soothing Music  \u2022 4K Video UHD #5\" width=\"922\" height=\"519\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GSUL6qeh8tQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of us go through life not seeing ourselves clearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We see the mistakes. The missed chances. The things we wish we could\u2019ve done better. We focus on our flaws\u2014what we\u2019re not\u2014so much that we lose sight of what we actually are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s the irony. The people around us\u2014our friends, our kids, our partners, our coworkers\u2014they see something else entirely. They see our strength. Our decency. The way we show up when it counts. They see the quiet grace we carry through hard days. The good we bring into the room without even knowing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But because we\u2019re the ones living it\u2014inside the struggle, inside the uncertainty\u2014we\u2019re blind to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s not a failure of character. That\u2019s being human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve met leaders, artists, teachers, single parents,  old and young people with nothing but heart\u2014folks who\u2019ve carried the weight of entire communities\u2014and still don\u2019t believe they\u2019re enough. They downplay their brilliance. Shrug off their resilience. They\u2019ll say things like, <em>\u201cI\u2019m just doing what I had to do.\u201d<\/em> But that\u2019s the point. That\u2019s what makes it remarkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See, the world conditions us to constantly question our worth. To wait for someone else to validate us. We\u2019re always reaching for some milestone\u2014some external proof\u2014that we matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the truth is, some of the most powerful things you\u2019ll ever do\u2026 you\u2019ll do quietly. And you might never get the full picture of what you meant to someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That doesn\u2019t make your contribution any smaller. It makes it real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So here\u2019s what I think:<br \/>We need to get better at telling each other the truth. The good kind.<br \/>We need to say: <em>\u201cHey, I see you. You\u2019re doing more than you think. You\u2019re carrying more than people know. And you\u2019re handling it with more grace than you realize.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And we need to get better at hearing it\u2014without brushing it off. Without changing the subject. Without turning away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because if a butterfly could see its own wings, it might fly a little differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Moments with Butterflies 4K \ud83e\udd8b | Soothing Nature Piano Music &amp; Insect Life \ud83c\udf43 \u2022 4K UHD\" width=\"922\" height=\"519\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QoYiiePsMc8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If you could see what others see in you, you might too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You don\u2019t need to become someone else to be worthy.<br \/>You don\u2019t need to perform to matter.<br \/>You just need to remember: the wings are already there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And maybe today\u2019s the day you start learning how to use them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s this quote that\u2019s been stuck in my head:\u201cButterflies can\u2019t see their wings. They can\u2019t see how truly beautiful they are, but everyone else can. People are like that as well.\u201dNaya Rivera said that. And the truth in it is hard to ignore. Most of us go through life not seeing ourselves clearly. We see [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[4101,1540,1184,2519],"class_list":["post-146454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-other-stuff","tag-naya-rivera-butterflies-cant-see-their-wings","tag-humans","tag-people","tag-wings"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/the-wings-we-cant-see.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":82609,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=82609","url_meta":{"origin":146454,"position":0},"title":"Wings","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"05\/09\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/180475722 Wings directed by James Chappell","rel":"","context":"In &quot;sounds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"sounds","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=thecuriousbra-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B01HJ6WC80","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":34974,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=34974","url_meta":{"origin":146454,"position":1},"title":"Moth&#8217;s Wings","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"28\/11\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/16445406 A bit old but still very awesome to hear! 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