Embrace Your Inner Frog

In the words of Kermit the frog: it ain't easy being green.

Frogs are often a symbol of being awkward and clumsy. They aren't soft and cuddly. They don't soar through the air on feathery wings or dance through life with rhythm and grace.

We often feel like a squat, clumsy frog, when we'd rather be a swan or eagle or some other majestic animal. And we've been told, through fairy tales and pop culture, that frogs are more valuable when a kiss turns them into a prince or princess.

Yet frogs are really interesting animals. No kiss required.

Frogs can sit with utter stillness as they sun themselves at the edge of a pond or rest on cool pavement on a quiet evening. They watch the world with an easy calm, curled and content, but also have a restrained power, ready to leap from a threat or snatch a passing fly.

Frogs climb, swim, and crawl their way around the globe in areas ranging from tropical to subarctic conditions. There are thousands of varieties of frogs, each with their own distinctive markings and regional adaptations.

Frogs are evolutionary survivors, as the earliest frog-related fossils date back hundreds of millions of years. They show up in art and stories from far reaching cultures, and their secretions may have medicinal properties.

We may not think of frogs as beautiful, graceful animals, but they have beauty and grace in their own way. They are interesting and diverse, strong and steady.

Instead of longing to transform into royalty, perhaps we can take time to notice the strengths and value we already have. We can embrace our inner frogs, warts and all, and invite ourselves to dance.