And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
-- Anaïs Nin
About the Quote
Sometimes change is painful, and it can hurt. That can't be helped. Men and women experience this if they enter the armed forces and undergo some sort of indoctrination on entry. Women have the additional experience of the female aspects of puberty and adolescence. In the animal kingdom not inhabited by human beings, the classic example of change is the caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
Most people are familiar with the idea expressed in the quote, but said differently. Usually it's along the lines of needing to get out of one's comfort zone if changes toward reaching some goal or achievement:
- The shy person wins first place in a retail sales contest;
- A middle-aged adult learns to swim for the first time;
- A teenager decides to ask someone out on a date, rejection be damned.
All require calculation that staying in place is more painful than moving forward.
Some Information about Anaïs Nin
Anaïs Nin was born in Neuilly, France on 1903-February-21. She died in Los Angeles, California, US on 1977-January-14.
Anaïs Nin was an author of novels as well as short stories. However, her reputation as a writer rests on the strength of her personal diaries, which were published across eight volumes.
Her mother brought her to New York, New York, US in 1914. She was educated in New York, but she returned to Europe. She began her career as a literary writer with the publication of D. H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study in 1932. It was through this book that she began a lifelong friendship with American writer Henry Miller.
When World War II started she returned to New York to continue her literary career. Although she hadn't received any critical acclaim then, her novels and short stories were admired by many contemporary leading literary figures.
It was only in 1966 that she received acclaim as a noteworthy writer when the first volume of her personal diaries was published. This caused many new to her work to discover her writings from earlier periods in her literary career.
-- Source
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