Fairy tales are real
Life is a fairy tale.
Although, it’s the kind of fairy tale we used to tell. Long before Disney, we told each other stories about conflicting priorities and consequences.
The little mermaid fell in love with a man who fell for another. She didn’t win him over in the end or triumph because she was good. She lost her identity completely and became sea foam. How many of us have broken ourselves in sacrifice to an idea of a person who never really saw us?
Cinderella’s sisters weren’t outright evil for the sake of being nasty. They cut off parts of their feet to fit into the glass slipper because their mother pressured them to marry the prince. How many of us have cut off important parts of ourselves in order to conform to someone else’s idea of success?
Fairytales these days are simplistic tales of good and evil. Good people get a happy ending and meanies get what they deserve.
I feel like this is a completely useless form of storytelling. Yes, sometimes the world works that way but more more often than not it doesn’t. These stories are misleading and give us a sense of entitlement and safety. They ask us to believe everything will go our way in the end. After all, we’re the good guy, right?
We have the internet in our pockets. We don’t believe in fairy godmothers. Yet many of us still wait for some kind of magic to intervene and set us on our happily ever after.
I’m a good person. I deserve it….don’t I? I’ve been waiting so long. When is it my turn? What’s wrong with me?
It’s really dangerous thinking.
Selfish people get their way all the time and wonderful people settle for much less than happiness.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Old school fairytales had magic too, a wild, unreliable and interesting magic. It was magic that turned people upside down and said ‘hey, what’ll you do now?’ It was magic that showed people for their true selves and the consequences of decisions.
Old school fairytales told stories about swindlers and heartbreak and misuse of power, but they also had a lot to say about love, adventure and wisdom. They highlighted what’s valuable and worth fighting for. They schooled us in life and in wild, unpredictable magic.
We can learn a lot from fairytales. Look for what’s really going on and trust your gut instincts. Be honest and pursue what you really want, even at the risk of not getting it and most of all, just about anything could happen.
Life is a fairytale. It has conflicting priorities and consequences. If you’re out looking for an adventure, old, wild, capricious magic can toss you in new directions, waken your senses and curiously watch to see what you do with it next.
Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.
G.K. Chesterton
Muchness 
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