The Princesses of My Growth

Ever since I could remember, the princesses in the books and movies have never not been an influence on my life. Though, asking who was my favorite would be a hard question, because that changed throughout the timeline of the growth of myself. Each story is unique to their own, even if not all the princesses are too far apart in personality at times, it never took away from the charm itself. The magic, the gowns, the true love kiss, and so much more that influenced me to the woman I am today; the woman I'm still working to become. As it classically starts...

Once Upon a Time,

Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, a woman who was defined by a blue dress that stood out from the rest as much as she did in the small town; not to forget a passion for a good fictional story. Two things I felt like I really related to back in school, because I had a passion for fictional stories I'd try to read when I could and that I never felt like I fit in, even in the art club with other art loving peers. Felt like my peers found me as oddly weird just as Belle was seen, though from her I passively learned a more subtle lesson, to be true to yourself even if others judge you. That might have been why I was seen as weird, for just being me for me, but that became more the reason I loved her so much the more I came to understand it. Aside from that, the lesson to not judge a book by its cover, her endless kindness, strength to stand up for herself and her influence on the beast just by being herself, will always be a favorite of mine for romance stories.

Next to Belle was Alice, from Alice in Wonderland, although not a princess... She is to me at least part of the mad, zanny world of imagination. That fairytale was one that more so spoke to me than really taught me anything. The open minded world building and wonder of it's creativity, felt like a world too far away that I wanted to jump into and live in. It had an influence on how I wanted to tell stories as well how I've expressed myself, because with how diverse the world is, is how I felt with myself as I never just stick to one thing. At times I'd wanna dress goth, other times dress street fashion or other times pretty lolita fashion; even with music I never just stick to a band or certain song type, I'd listen to anything that just spoke to me in itself. So if anybody ever wanted to try to understand me, I'd say I'm the daughter of the mad hatter and my mind came from wonderland, as mad as it might sound to them.

Now I've already listed two fairy tales with their protagonist being of a blue dress, but the next princess that I hold close to me is Rapunzel, from Tangled. During the time when the movie came out, I had long been taking medicine for hypothyroidism, which was causing me to lose the long thick hair I loved into thinning frail hair, to where if the light hit just right would make me seem bald at the top of my head. The tower she was in was unavoidably relatable to me, always being stuck home with nowhere to go and friends that seemed too far away most of the time, only ever left me with my dancing; making art; singing; crafting and so much more. Losing my hair made me feel like I'd never really escape my tower, especially romantically, having been picked on over the years in school by the boys in my classes. Felt like it would never change and that a prince wouldn't want to come for me if they saw me. Though, just as Belle, Rapunzel had inspired me even more to still be myself and that one day the right guy would love me to pieces. Even with the loss of my hair.

I'm skipping over a lot of other fairy tales to get to the important ones. Many of the ones I never mentioned had some meaning in my life, just not as big. Like Mulan for her strength, Red Riding Hood for aesthetics, Little Mermaid for her thirst for more and so many others. As to get back to it though...

Being a young adult now, one princess had changed for me. I had listened to a few videos discussing about her and how hated she is as an influence for younger girls. Cinderella, from Cinderella. The woman who was passive throughout the story, being forced into servitude by her step mother, never taking action to leave on her own and yet ending up crying to have the aid of her fairy godmother. It's easy to read her off as a weak woman who can't stand for herself in a bad situation, but really, she isn't and honestly she has become my favorite currently. Realistically, Cinderella had a promising place to live despite the downsides and if she had left where would she even go? What most overlooked as to why she is actually a very strong princess, is because even in her situation in her story she never chose to give cruelty back, but instead chose kindness (at least in the Disney version).

Out of the years I have lived so far, kindness has been the hardest thing to keep up with in my life, whereas bringing back karma onto others who do me wrong has been too tempting. Not to even forget, it's something I've seen through others around me, many choosing to want revenge or make others feel the pain they felt, just because it makes them feel better. Being genuinely kind is a choice and can have a pay off, but within time rather than instantly, which many don't have the patience for. Of course like all lessons in life, it's not black and white, not every situation can be solved with kindness and you'll need to take action to leave those situations if they are seriously bad. As for general situations in life, the strongest version of yourself you could ever be is to have understanding and not raise your hand or your voice at others.

Cinderella made the best of her situation, not letting it change who she was or influence her to be a bad person. She stood her ground being who she was, which was kind, thoughtful, caring and positive. It's all too common nowadays, that bad people will blame their past experience for the way they are today. Truth be told, a hard one, who you become out of a bad situation is your choice as to what you learn from it and if it changes you. Just because someone treats you poorly, doesn't mean you become them or you stop seeing them as human. What comes of kindness is forgiveness and understanding, both equally hard things Cinderella does with ease in sequel movies. Although, again, this doesn't translate to all situations, but I am speaking for general situations that would be common for most people. Saying all of this, the fairytale of Cinderella shines bright during my current twenties of age.