The shell has cracked.

Split open.

And I’m free.

The light is bright — the world around me new and unfamiliar.

What awaits me out here in this new world, what awaits me in this new life?

Better yet — now that I’m born, now that I’m free from my shell — who am I?

I’m no longer the embryo. No longer just the potential of what may be.

I am born.

I am new life.

I stand up and climb out from my cracked shell.

Legs weak. Knees buckling.

I nearly fall over.

With a little shaking of my arms and legs, I am stable again.

Walking will take practice.

Perhaps I should start by crawling.

What is this new world that awaits me?

And who am I, this new form, this new life, entering into this new world now?

Who will I meet, who will be my friends?

What will I learn, how will I grow — who and what will I grow into?

I take a shaky step forward.

My first step. My foot firm in the ground.

New strength within me.

I can do this.

My next step.

Slowly, carefully, I leave the familiar safety of my old shell, my old home, my old way of being that no longer fits me; that shell can no longer safely support me.

I feel vulnerable.

I am vulnerable. I have to realize this.

Then again, even within my shell, I was still vulnerable — prey to outside predators, unable to move or escape.

Perhaps now, I am less vulnerable than I was before. It’s just that now I realize I’m vulnerable.

I am vulnerable, but now I can walk. Now I can move.

I am free.

I am freedom, manifest.

I look around.

Where will I walk?

Who will I meet?

What will I do?

What creature am I, and to what will I evolve into?

I take another brave step.

Whatever waits ahead, I cannot return to the past.

That home is gone. A new one — a bigger, better, much more interesting one — is ahead of me. All around me.

This new world is far more interesting, far more diverse and creative, entirely full of endless opportunities.

I walk forward and enter into this new world.

Leaving my old shell … broken, opened … behind me.

My legs are still weak. My tiny heart beats intensely.

Be brave, little heart.

We were made for this.

–David Michaels

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