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Cappy The Caterpillar

@cappythecaterpillar

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Tiny body
Big heart
Life lessons for little & big souls
Children’s book coming Dec 2027 🐛

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We only see people’s sunny parts

Everybody has cloudy parts too.

A little story I created to remind myself of this so I don’t forget

Xx - Cappy 🐛 by @cappythecaterpillar

Instagram friends, meet Cappy. 🐛

Cappy the caterpillar came to me In May of 2025.. he’s basically me in fictional caterpillar form. I used Canva AI to create one oof my mini stories- and you’re probably wondering Maria why tf are you using Ai?

Im a story teller, but pencil & sketch book in hand, not so much. HOWEVER, I’m thrilled to share that I’ve found an illustrator and a Cappy anthology will be published in a year’s time (and if the timeline shifts- we surrender, but we may cry about it first lol)

So for now, enjoy my bite-sized stories that didn’t make the book because they’re too cute and relatable to not share with the world.

For so long I didn’t know there was a difference between joy & happiness because joy is fleeting. But the more I do things that create simplicity and bring me back to my inner child.. BOOM the joy reappears.

Creating Cappy, brought me back to consistent joy 🐛 by @cappythecaterpillar

Joy is funny. It doesn’t always stick around, but when it’s here, it’s here, filling every inch of me 🐛

I used to think joy was something to chase…then, I noticed when I slow down enough to just notice life, joy shows up more. It doesn’t need to be chased actually, it just needs space.

I find it in the ideas that wiggle their way into my heart. In friendships that feel like soul family. In goofy little dance moves nobody sees. In a warm cup of tea. In morning light through the leaves. In a friend who checks in for no reason at all.

Joy isn’t waiting for life to be perfect. It’s already here, hiding in the small stuff, waiting for us to look down and notice it. TRULY notice it.

Small caterpillar, biggggg world.

— Cappy🐛 by @cappythecaterpillar

Community. Friends. Connection. I love it all!!!! Some critters have even told me it’s my superpower.

Lately though? I’ve been doubting it.

So many critters have wiggled in and out of my life this past year, and it’s had me spiraling… is my leaf hat on too sideways? Is my belly too rainbow? Am I just... too weird for this garden?

Turns out I had checked myself into Storyland. Population: me, my anxiety, and SEVERAL unverified rumors about myself. Storyland is NOT a fun place to visit…. It’s where I forget I’m actually a pretty cooll & very wiggly caterpillar with excellent vibes and a great hat… actually many hats

The stories I was telling myself were keeping me locked in my cocoon. I’ve had enough

Because when I actually think about it, like really think about it, the critters who’ve shown up for me this year have felt like home. Real home. They don’t leave. They want me there. They include me in everything. And when I walk out of a room, I trust that only good things are being said about me (and possibly a little bit about my dance moves and sillyness)

I have friends to lean on.
 I have friends who help me get grounded again
 I have friends who show up when my leaf scooter inevitably breaks down on the side of the road.
 I have friends who make me laugh when I’m sad
 And I have friends who love me exactly as I show up, sideways hat and all

And I think that might be the whole point.

(Also a special shoutout to my friends who’ve stayed through all phases of my metamorphosis.. you’re stuck with me 4 life)

Cappy🐛 by @cappythecaterpillar

I used to wake up everyday waiting. Waiting for new critters to come to the garden. Waiting for the next rainbow to come out and play. Waiting for Willow to want to hang out with me. Just Waiting

Let me tell you, waiting is boring. I learned that nothing actually happens when we wait for life to happen to us.

Apparently we have to make some moves too. I know… I know.. crazy realization.

Something really cool started to happen when I had an idea unfold within me. I took 1 step forward, then 3 doors opened. I took 2 steps forward and then 3 more opened.

It all started to make sense.

My ideas, are great ideas. When I follow through on my ideas, it feels meaningful and then my LIFE feels meaningful. And when life feels meaningful, i feel like I’m finally the one living it.

Cappy 🐛 by @cappythecaterpillar

I used to let people label me

Adventurous Cappy. Too much Cappy. The messy one. The goofy one. The giver. The one who needs space. The sensitive one. The free spirit. Unstable. Dreams too big. Virgo. 4/6. Enneagram 4. Etc. fill in the blank

i realized I sometimes stayed inside those labels. Because it’s easier to be what someone expects than to keep surprising them with the constant change I’m experiencing within

But THEN I remembered I am a caterpillar!!!!

We are quite literally designed to outgrow every single version of ourselves🐛🐛

the next time someone tries to hand me a box with my name on it (even a pretty inviting one)

I won’t climb inside of it

I’m not a type. I’m not an archetype. Im not even who i was last season.

I’m growing..into something even I haven’t met yet & the right critters in the garden see it and amplify me!!!

& honestly the box never stood a chance

Cappy🐛 by @cappythecaterpillar

I was reflecting and I noticed that I have entered some gardens with my leaf hat sideways, oversharing immediately, doing the weird little dance unprompted and felt totally at home. I have also entered some gardens perfectly composed, suspiciously well-behaved... and felt completely exhausted by the end of it.

That was my answer right there.

So I wanted to ask you my friend,

Do you feel like yourself around the people you are spending time with? Do you feel invisible at times or exhausted by the end of the hang? Cherished or just... tolerated with a smile?

And most importantly can you be weird around those people? Like actually, genuinely, embarrassingly weird? Because I firmly believes that is the real test to feeling at home.

The right people don’t just like you. They LOVE the weird wiggly parts about you.

Some gardens look beautiful from afar but just aren’t yours. Some critters seem perfect on paper and just make you smaller in person. Not around my garden.

Cappy🐛 by @cappythecaterpillar

Happy Cappy. Sad Cappy. Excited Cappy. Dancing Cappy. Grounded Cappy. Silly Cappy. So many versions of Cappy that exist!!!!!

Just not all at the same time. (I tried that once. It was a lot.)

Being a caterpillar is actually kind of great because some days I only want adventures, pond hangs and whatever’s happening on the mushroom dance floor while and other days I just want tea, rain, and a journal. I used to get annoyed at myself for not being consistent. Turns out I wasn’t inconsistent, I was just growing!!

Some days are loud and outward and full. Some days are quiet and inward and gentle.
Both are doing something. Both co-exist.

And when I look back at all the versions of Cappy that have shown up over the years, I don’t see a mess which some critters may (big eye roll). I see a whole, wonderfully wiggly story still being written slowly

Older. Wiser. & still absolutely wild on the dance floor when the right moment calls for it

Becoming myself is a lifelong process. Cappy is not behind. Cappy is growing… and that will never fully stop

Because APPARENTLY that’s the whole beautiful point!!!!! by @cappythecaterpillar

Hi beautiful humans, Cappy’s Garden mom here 🐛

If you know me personally, you know that I’ve never wanted a life that looked like everyone else’s, even though that choice has come with instability, scarcity, and a whole lot of self-doubt along the way(like honestly what am I doing lol ). And yet, I wouldn’t trade it for a degree, a house by 25, or a 401k

It took me until I was 27 to figure out what I actually wanted…Enter Cappy

He showed up on a random day of painting with my partner at the time. We had a beautiful, playful relationship where inanimate objects got names and the mundane was turned into games. Total inner child play all the time. It was epic. So I painted a blob. He encouraged me to turn it into something. That something became a caterpillar. He told me to name it and instantly, I knew: Cappy. Then he said, “write a story about him.”

So I did. 9 stories, actually. A children’s anthology was my first idea. I knew Cappy was meant to reach people, but with $0 and no illustrator, I had no idea how to make that real.

So I did what most of us do. I stopped. I let Cappy and the joy he gave me fade into the background of my life.

Recently, i started thinking about Cappy differently. Maybe it’s not a book right now. Maybe it’s something else, a seed planted, that grows into something I can’t see yet. What I do know is this: every time I create, write, or talk about Cappy, a door opens. Every single time.

& that’s what happens when you follow your excitement. You start co-creating with the Creator of life itself. God sees what we’re capable of, and wants us to actually build it. My very own surrender Experiment… Michael Singer would be SOooooo proud

All of that to say, my path rarely looks like a plan. I am not taking the wrong path. I am taking MY path. And apparently, that’s the whole point.

Right now, Cappy is a vessel for kids who feel deeply, and for the adults who were those kids once. I don’t know where he’s headed. But telling my story through Cappy is expanding & healing me in ways I never expected

— Maria, aka Cappy’s Garden Mom 🐛 by @cappythecaterpillar

As a caterpillar, I know all about cycles and seasons. They come, they go, (very dramatically) sometimes with a lot of rain and not a lot of warning. But then there’s beauty on the other side. Flowers, leaves & fruit included!!

Some seasons, critters show up and support the garden for a while. Other seasons, it’s just me, the dirt, and my own thoughts…. and let me tell you, the garden can gets quiet

Apparently all of it is necessary (Apparently. That’s what my best friend Willow tells me)

There’s a critter i think of often, who used to visit my garden. Wow, do I miss them. But I guess not every critter is meant to stay forever, even the good ones. The only constant is change, and some days that makes me really sad. Change can be scary. I didn’t sign up for “growth,” I just wanted to eat leaves & fruit in peace.

But it can also be beautiful. It IS beautiful.

Today, it’s raining in the garden & the critters I miss aren’t here to see it but maybe they’re watching from a different garden, waiting for the sun to come out again

~Cappy 🐛 by @cappythecaterpillar

Excuse me, I have an announcement to make…

I love you.

Ok now that I have your attention…..I remembered something important.

I remembered that we’re all little creatures that look at life through different colored lenses & it’s actually quite beautiful. Some of us see wonder and magic in every little thing, and some of us see the practical, the grounded, the steady. And neither is wrong

The dreamer, one who sees magic needs the one who remembers to pack snacks. And the one who packs snacks needs the dreamer who makes the whole trip feel like an adventure

we need all the colors 🐛🦋🐌

And personally, I…. Need a snack in my belly

Cappy🐛 by @cappythecaterpillar

I noticed something,

when I’m kind to myself, I’m kinder to everyone. When I’m harsh with myself… the world feels harsh too.

Oh boy.

Turns out ….it starts inside. Which is frankly the most inconvenient place it could possibly start.

I am not thrilled about this information. I would have preferred it started somewhere outside of me, other people, bad timing, the moon, literally anything else

But I’ll do what I always do & I move from my big heart.

I’ll just roll my eyes first. Obviously

Xoxo,
Cappy🐛 by @cappythecaterpillar