Once upon a time, we were dreamers. We have always been.

Our childhood taught us to believe in possibilities, in everything, and fairytales gave a major contribution to this. They played a huge part in molding our imaginations and our personalities. The things we read, read to us, and saw opened our eyes to the light of hope – even if it meant being stuck in the abyss of infinitely hoping. As we grew up, we never realized that we have always been living our own once-upon-a-times, our own fairytales inspired by those that stuck with us forever.

We are Cinderella. At some point in our lives, we have been cradled in the arms of suffering. We have had our doses of “evil stepmothers and stepsisters” in the form of other people. We have been looked down and pulled down because of other people’s discontent and jealousy. Nevertheless, despite all these, we never gave up on hope. There has always been that tiny spark of desire in us to be able to surpass every obstacle and eventually find our personal oasis, be it in terms of love, family, friendship, career, or individuality.

We are Snow White. We have been deceived and betrayed. We have been victims of social poisons – fear, bad influences, horrible experiences, social persecutions – that kept us stagnant for some time. That hope we clung on to sort of died keeping us stuck in this deep sleep of despair. However, no matter how miserable we are or how alone we feel, there will always be people who will snap us back into reality. There will always be someone who will wake us up from desolation and light that candle of hope that was once (or many times) blown out. Finally, when we look around, we will be able to see more clearly that we were never alone; we just forgot.

We are Beast. Our mistakes and misconducts could lead us to awful experiences influencing us to develop an entirely different character, usually leaning to the darker side, instead of taking them as life lessons and change for the better. These taught us to be less trusting, less sensitive, less loving, and mostly, less pleasant. We have become so horrible at a certain moment that we ended up not believing that someone will still accept us for what we are. However, once we have decided to let our guards down a notch, we discovered that there would be people who will be so willing to understand us, be patient with us, and love us in spite of the permanent stains of imperfections we have. With this, we drift into the vacuum of positivity once again.

Lastly, we are Simba. We have received a fair share of love and pain. We have cherished the moments when we are showered with the love of those who are dear to us and because of this, we have done our best to protect them. Yet, this is always not the case. There will be conflicts, misunderstandings, and disobediences that will not only hurt the ones we love, but ourselves as well. When we end up inflicting pain to our loved ones, we will be wedged in the pangs of regret. Still, we rise and learn from our mistakes even if it is already too late. Most importantly, we never cease to love.

Our childhood fairytales are actually images of us embracing our true humanities regardless of their fictional natures. They are constant reminders that there will be glass slippers carrying us out of misery, kisses of hopes that will wake us up from that sleep of desolation, someone who will never give up on us despite our monstrosity, and love that could hurt but majorly serves as our blankets of security, protection, and happiness.

Best of all, contrary to what others believe, happily-ever-afters do exist. It may take a while, but they will come. We just have to wait.