All animals eventually shed their skin. This includes us humans! In mammals, particularly humans, shedding is an ongoing process that’s rarely noticed. An animal’s hormones may change upon the change in seasons. These hormonal changes can initiate shedding. As the weather gets colder, hormonal changes in animals can cause their fur coat to grow thicker. This helps keep the animal warm during the frigid winter months. When the seasons change and the weather turns warmer, the fur starts to fall from the animal’s skin. Reptiles shed their skin differently. Reptiles shed their skin because their skin does not grow larger. This means that as the reptile itself grows in size the skin simply gets tighter. As compared to animals, reptiles shed their skin periodically as needed instead of a constant ongoing process. Arthropods must shed their skeleton since it is on the outside of their body and prohibits the growth of the body. Hence, arthropods develop several exoskeletons during their lifetime.
Humans shed not only our hair and skin cells, but we also shed an old version of ourselves. Usually something radical occurs sometime during each of our lives that triggers a major transformation within us. Sometimes it is when we officially become an adult that makes us shed our childhood self, particularly if we had a very toxic or challenging childhood. Our shedding may be initiated once we become parents, and we choose to leave behind our old free spirited single self behind now stepping into the role of a responsible parent. We may reach midlife and experience an incredible pull to shed our prior self and step into a new version of who we are and want to be. Perhaps we shed our old self the moment we give up certain habits or addictions, like choosing to be sober after years of alcoholic self-sabotage. Or a major health crisis could spark the need to live in a completely different way, as a new edition of yourself. Many shed their old self after the loss of a dear loved one. Their death causes us to take a long hard look at our own life and make revisions, as necessary.
There are so many different reasons that may initiate someone’s transformation within their lifetime. In fact, people often go through a few major shedding of self phases. Whatever happens that triggers the need to radically change and leave behind the previous version of yourself, it is important to know that these types of changes are normal. Going through these transitions can seem scary, uncertain, confusing, and challenging, but once the shedding of the old self is complete there is a type of ease and peace that sets in. The new version feels like the version that “fits” appropriately for us now. If we lived an unhealthy lifestyle before, and we have now decided to adopt a completely different way of living there is a liberation that comes with this update. Just like new and improved versions are released for technology, we too have new and improved updates that need to be “installed” for the best of us to shine in this world.
During the transition phase when our old self is being shed away and the new us is emerging, there is a bit of back and forth that takes place. It is more like rocking ourselves out of the old exoskeleton, rather than a smooth birth straight out of it. Think of when your tires get stuck in snow, and we rock the car back and forth trying to free it from the groove that it got stuck in. The same holds true for the shedding of our old self. We may feel like there is a bit of a tug of war going on within us where part of us wants to be the same old self that we’ve always been (the familiar self), and the other part of us that is clearly growing into a different person (the new and improved self). The newer version has unfamiliar aspects to it, and so we tend to question whether we should fully emerge into this new life and way of being. Growth occurs when the discomfort of the old you becomes unbearable. That’s when we feel more comfortable with approaching the new horizon because what we are experiencing is just not for us anymore.
Often as we step into the new edition of ourselves, we are saddened to find that many of the people who we had in our old life are no longer aligned with us. They tend to casually fall away from our world. New people who are better aligned with the new version of us start to enter. We have more of a pull to meet and get to know a new set of friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. There may be a hesitation to allow new people in at first. Once we do, however, the floodgates open to allowing other new souls to connect with us. We can’t help but feel a slight sense of loss of our old connections. They haven’t disappeared, they are still there for us to call upon if necessary, but we find that we don’t have the pull to connect with them as often as we once did. Hanging out with our old contacts even leaves us with a sense of disconnect because we are now aware of the discrepancy between where we were and where we are in life. Some friends, relatives, or acquaintances we end up cutting ties with altogether simply because we have so radically changed. Like the saying goes, people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Those that need to fall away like autumn leaves from a tree (aka your life) should be allowed to do so naturally. Others need to be purposely pruned from the tree as needed. Don’t hold onto people of your past simply for the sake of keeping them in your life.
Whatever it is that has sparked the need for you to shed the old you and step into the new you, realize that it is ok. There is no need for hesitation. There is no need to be frightened or scared. Don’t try to avoid the shedding and breaking away of the old you. Gently allow the transformation to take place. Sometimes the shedding of the old you happens abruptly, but normally it happens gradually over time. You will be keenly aware of the new person you are becoming and the many changes that that brings with it. At that point it is best to give the new you a warm welcome and embrace the promising horizon that you are offering to yourself (in your fresh skin). Congratulations!