“It would be easy to become a victim of our circumstances and continue feeling sad, scared or angry; or instead, we could choose to deal with injustice humanely and break the chains of negative thoughts and energies, and not let ourselves sink into it.” Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary
Aurora is my favorite Disney princess. That would be Sleeping Beauty for those who don’t know. For a long time, I couldn’t really figure out why I related to her so much, but I think I’ve got it.
In Disney’s version, Aurora doesn’t move her story forward. The big plot things are happening to her. When she was a baby, a curse was placed on her. Still she grew up a happy and kind person. She was content with her life. Then just as she meets a handsome man, her aunts tell her who she really is and brings her to the castle.
Obediently she follows, and the spell takes over. She sleeps for the entire battle action, and wakes up to find the same handsome man she met in the woods. She reunites with her parents. Two kingdoms are united. She has a ball gown that changes colors. Happily ever after.
Aurora doesn’t really do anything! She just lives life wherever that life is. Things happen to her and she’s the most affected by other people’s actions.
For a long time, that’s how I felt. I was happy living my life in whatever circumstances it was in, but other people was steering it for me. I didn’t feel like I had control. I was an obedient child. I followed who I am, but only to the extent of not disobeying or offending other people. My biggest dreams were kept secret because I knew they would make the people around me uncomfortable.
It was like this for the longest time, until the secret was revealed, I pricked my finger, and the dragon appeared. Until I had a wake up call, and I realized I needed to stop being a victim of my circumstances.
A handsome God woke me up from my sleep, and told me that everything is going to be okay. I needed to hear that. See, unlike Aurora, I didn’t have fairy godmothers who cleaned up all the mess after the battle with Maleficent.
I woke up to see the brokenness and thorns around me. I woke up to see that by not really fighting for my life, I had wasted years of my own life. I didn’t have and never would have control over the actions of other people, but I have always had control of my actions and reactions.
[bctt tweet=”We can only control what we do. Don’t be a victim of circumstances.”]
I didn’t take hold of that though, and so sunk into the negativity of my circumstances, whether brought on by myself or by others. I lost my freedom to the bad things because I became their victim. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Bad things happen, but we can keep our freedom by rising above them. By not sinking into them. By not letting them take root in our hearts and spirits.
If you wake up to brokenness and thorns, and feel like you can’t clean it all up, hold on. You will be okay. It may take some time, but you can do it. You can reclaim your freedom. You can fight for your life.
Stop worrying about offending other people. Stop hiding your dreams because they make other people uncomfortable. Follow who you are to the fullest.
I still love Aurora, but not because I feel like other people have control over my life. I love her because we haven’t yet seen what she’s really capable of. We know she’s a good person. She is kind. She talks to animals (which isn’t weird for a Disney princess, okay?). She can dance. She has a big imagination. She has people fighting on her side and on her behalf. So what is she really capable of? We don’t know, and it’s exciting to find out.
What are you capable of? Be excited to find out!
One thought on “Freedom and Bad Things”