Did you know Atlas Moths and trauma survivors share something really special in common? Over the years, these moths adopted a unique defense mechanism—forming a pattern on their wing tips representing two cobra heads. It's important to note that their habitat is primarily in the jungles of Asia, where cobras and other predators thrive.
What's fascinating is that when they feel threatened by their prey (mostly birds and lizards), they fall to the ground, pull their wings together, and shake their wings to appear as if the snake is rattling. How does this relate to survivors?
When threatened, people go to great lengths to keep themselves from looking vulnerable, weak, or soft. Like the atlas moth, we move and morph ourselves to appear as something we are not to ensure the "bad thing" never happens to us again.
This is our survival mode. This adaptation is good until it's not. When we stay in "cobra mode" too long, pretending to be someone else and forgoing our natural rest state, it ends up causing more harm to our bodies and relationships than good.
We must return to our softness, embrace our vulnerability, and accept our true self in order to heal.
A Poem: What The Atlas Moth Taught Me
Perhaps you’ve developed defenses that have kept you safe
After years of being hidden, playing it small,
You hear yourself say, “no more.”
Your wings stretch wide, revealing your strength.
The soft fur of your wings transforms
into the scales of slithering snakes.
You become the predator
That hunts your prey.
But once the danger flees,
The hand of God picks you up
He reminds you to
breathe, relax your wings
Because while you have needed to be tough
You will always be his atlas moth.
