Reason number 746 to take things slowly, thoughtfully, and in progressive steps: the armadillo phenomenon.
Being a coastal girl, I don't know that much about armadillos, so this may not be entirely correct in terms of how their funny little bodies work... but it'll be close enough I think! I once saw a bunch of armadillos when I spent a month in rural Texas. They were very cute and interesting little animals. I wanted one, of course (to go with the llama I'm getting...).
Armadillos remind me a bit of how you guys go around in the world. Their whole backsides are covered with those plates of armor. They scoot along, with those plates protecting every move. From what I've seen, an armadillo isn't the most flexible and easy-going mover ever invented. But wow, he sure looks protected!
I bet, though, if you flip him over, he'll probably feel HUGELY exposed. His little tummy isn't covered with all those armor plates and he looks vulnerable. So, what does he do? He curls up into a ball, whereupon he's 100% covered with his plates.
Pretty cool, huh? Yep, except that when he's in "ball mode" he is super not-flexible, and although he's all covered up, he doesn't have a lot of options- pretty much he's staying where he is and waiting out whatever freaked him out and got him into "ball mode" to begin with.
You guys go around with your armor, and you feel protected with it. You've figured out how to move well, even if you aren't as flexible and easy-moving as you inherently could be.
If something comes along, though and overwhelms and/or threatens you, you can get "flipped over" and then you feel WAY exposed and vulnerable and unprotected. At that point you curl up into your armor-covered armadillo ball and hope you can wait it out.
It's not a bad short term strategy- after all, the armadillo seems to have done pretty well for itself! The problem though is that this strategy has some by-products that can be quite troubling: isolation, increase in reliance upon the eating disorder behaviors, not being able to feel any emotions...
Since armadillos are designed for this type of "balling up" defensive move, they probably don't have nasty by-products that come along with using that strategy. We humans aren't built for armadillo moves, so, although we can pull of an armadillo trick, we suffer from it.
Getting yourself "un-armadillo-rolled-up" isn't so easy either. I bet it's darn easy for the real armadillo to unroll himself and get on with his day. But once a human gets herself into that defensive, hunkered down place, it takes some real work to coax her out.
So, what's the point here? Well, that armadillos are cute, of course. And that they are designed to use their innate protection devices and moves. And that we humans are designed to use human protective strategies, not armadillo ones. And that if we've had a life where we had to develop armadillo-type armor, we need to be aware of that, be thoughtful and careful and patient about working with ourselves about it. And that an ultimate goal is to be fully human- and not an armadillo/human hybrid :)
Reason number 746 to take things slowly, thoughtfully, and in progressive steps: the armadillo phenomenon.
Being a coastal girl, I don't know that much about armadillos, so this may not be entirely correct in terms of how their funny little bodies work... but it'll be close enough I think! I once saw a bunch of armadillos when I spent a month in rural Texas. They were very cute and interesting little animals. I wanted one, of course (to go with the llama I'm getting...).Armadillos remind me a bit of how you guys go around in the world. Their whole backsides are covered with those plates of armor. They scoot along, with those plates protecting every move. From what I've seen, an armadillo isn't the most flexible and easy-going mover ever invented. But wow, he sure looks protected!
I bet, though, if you flip him over, he'll probably feel HUGELY exposed. His little tummy isn't covered with all those armor plates and he looks vulnerable. So, what does he do? He curls up into a ball, whereupon he's 100% covered with his plates.
Pretty cool, huh? Yep, except that when he's in "ball mode" he is super not-flexible, and although he's all covered up, he doesn't have a lot of options- pretty much he's staying where he is and waiting out whatever freaked him out and got him into "ball mode" to begin with.
You guys go around with your armor, and you feel protected with it. You've figured out how to move well, even if you aren't as flexible and easy-moving as you inherently could be.
If something comes along, though and overwhelms and/or threatens you, you can get "flipped over" and then you feel WAY exposed and vulnerable and unprotected. At that point you curl up into your armor-covered armadillo ball and hope you can wait it out.
It's not a bad short term strategy- after all, the armadillo seems to have done pretty well for itself! The problem though is that this strategy has some by-products that can be quite troubling: isolation, increase in reliance upon the eating disorder behaviors, not being able to feel any emotions...
Since armadillos are designed for this type of "balling up" defensive move, they probably don't have nasty by-products that come along with using that strategy. We humans aren't built for armadillo moves, so, although we can pull of an armadillo trick, we suffer from it.
Getting yourself "un-armadillo-rolled-up" isn't so easy either. I bet it's darn easy for the real armadillo to unroll himself and get on with his day. But once a human gets herself into that defensive, hunkered down place, it takes some real work to coax her out.
So, what's the point here? Well, that armadillos are cute, of course. And that they are designed to use their innate protection devices and moves. And that we humans are designed to use human protective strategies, not armadillo ones. And that if we've had a life where we had to develop armadillo-type armor, we need to be aware of that, be thoughtful and careful and patient about working with ourselves about it. And that an ultimate goal is to be fully human- and not an armadillo/human hybrid :)