Bonjour Royal friends!
👑 Welcome! It’s Princess Diane von Brainisfried with another sparkling tip to help you live your royally happy life.
Keep Your Eye on the Butterfly, Not the Caterpillar
A New Year’s Resolution Strategy (With Wings)
New Year’s resolutions have a funny way of starting out glamorous and then, somewhere around January 12th, turning into… well… a caterpillar 🐛 on a leaf 🍁wondering what just happened. If your goals feel big, stretchy, or mildly terrifying, let me offer you a breakthrough mindset that can change everything:
Focus on the butterfly, not the caterpillar
When you have a future goal—better health, more money ease, less stress, fewer bad habits—it’s easy to fixate on where you are right now. And where you are right now may include sweatpants, receipts, cravings, or a strong emotional attachment to sugar. That’s okay.
Because the caterpillar is the butterfly—just earlier in the story.
What the Caterpillar Never Says
Let’s clear something up immediately. The caterpillar does not lie on a leaf saying, “Oh woe is me. I have this accordion body, one dull color, and approximately 300 tiny feet. I crawl on my belly like a worm. Also—how will I ever afford designer shoes? Scratch that. How will I ever afford shoes?” Nope. The caterpillar knows something important: There is a butterfly in there!
She knows shoes will soon be irrelevant. 👑🦋
Speak to Yourself Like You’re Becoming Royalty
Let’s say your New Year’s 2026 resolution is a big one. Maybe it’s losing weight, getting healthy, getting out of debt, or finally treating yourself like someone you actually like.
Instead of saying:
- “Why don’t I have any self-control?”
- “This is going to take forever.”
- “I can’t believe I let it get this bad.”
Try butterfly-language instead:
“I am excited that I have a healthy, fit body.
I feel light and strong.
I move easily without strain.
I am a warrior for my health and well-being.”
You’re not pretending. You’re setting direction.
Stop Reporting the News. Start Writing the Headline.
Here’s the trick: Don’t keep narrating your current caterpillar status like it’s breaking news.
“Still tired.”
“Still stuck.”
“Still behind.”
Instead, write the headline you’re growing into:
“Strong. Focused. Capable. Transformed.”
Because where your attention goes, your energy follows—and your energy is what grows the wings.
Identify Your Caterpillar (No Shaming Allowed)
Are you working on:
- Quitting smoking?
- Eating less sugar?
- Being less negative?
- Getting out of debt?
- Finishing what you start?
That’s the caterpillar stage.
The butterfly is already inside you. It just has a gestational period. (Transformation is not an emergency—it’s a process.)
Talk to yourself like someone who knows wings are already here.
Use Words That Give You Wings
Don’t describe yourself like you’re stuck crawling forever.
Instead of:
- “I’m weak.”
- “I never finish anything.”
- “I’m a mess.”
- “I’ll never get out of this.”
Try:
- “I am strong.”
- “I am creative.”
- “I am focused and effective.”
- “I am financially solid.”
- “I love eating healthy.”
- “I am vibrant in mind, body, and spirit.”
Even if these things aren’t fully true yet, affirmations work like signposts. They remind you where you’re headed—and that alone changes how you move.
Ancient Wisdom, Still Trendy
This idea isn’t new. Even the Bible understood the power of self-talk:
“Let the weak say, I am strong.”
Not “I’ll be strong once everything is perfect.”
But I am strong—right in the middle of becoming.
Very butterfly of them, honestly.
Your New Year’s Royal Reminder
As you step into this New Year, remember: There is a butterfly inside every caterpillar. If the caterpillar believed no wings were coming, she’d be miserable. Instead, she just keeps doing what needs to be done—eating, resting, growing—until one day…
Lift-off.
So keep your eye on the butterfly that lives within you.
Visualize it. Speak to it. Encourage it.
And when the process feels slow, remember:
Metamorphosis isn’t procrastination—it’s preparation.
Here’s to a New Year of growth, wings, and just enough royal confidence to know:
✨ You’re not stuck. You’re transforming. ✨
A New Year’s Eve Call to Action: Midnight, But Make It Metamorphosis
Before the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, I invite you to do something different.
Instead of making a long list of resolutions based on everything you think is “wrong” with you, pause for a moment and ask yourself this:
Who is my butterfly?
As the ball drops, don’t picture what you want to fix.
Picture what you are becoming….as if you already are!
See the future-you who feels lighter, stronger, calmer, more joyful, more confident, more financially sound, more at ease in her own skin. Let that version of you step into the New Year first—head high, wings ready.
Then, choose one small action you’ll take in January that supports that butterfly. Not everything. Not perfection. Just one step that says:
“I believe in who I’m becoming.”
Because this year isn’t about crawling faster.
It’s about trusting the wings that are already growing.
And remember, dear one:
👑 You are not behind. You are not broken. You are your beautiful becoming.
So straighten your invisible crown, speak kindly to your caterpillar moments,
and step into the New Year knowing—
the butterfly is in you and is right on schedule.
With royal encouragement, love, and a wink of wings,
HAPPY 2026!
Mwah! 💖
Tata for now!
~ Princess Diane von Brainisfried 👑
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Royally Yours with love, laughter, and limitless joy,
👑 💋💫🏰
Princess Diane Von Brainisfried
x♥x♥x♥,
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Dame Diane Uniman, Aka Princess Diane von Brainisfried, is an attorney turned motivational speaker, certified positive psychology life coach and award-winning writer. She wrote Bonjour, Breast Cancer-I’m Still Smiling…Wit, Wisdom, and Optimism for Beating the Breast Cancer Blues.