We all have choices in life. We come across those challenging times where we are put in an unpleasant situation which we cannot control, but we can control the outcome. We really only have one choice. Do we choose to be the princess or the Knight in our own story?
A few years ago I was faced with a situation where I needed to make this decision that would ultimately lead to me conquering my downfall, learning and growing from the situation. Thinking back 4 or more years ago I was someone who prided myself on my positivity, happy attitude and ignoring every form of negative. Of course, being positive is a great attribute to have however, I never really left room to consider the less desirable or negative side of things leaving me easily hurt, gullible and quite naive. I also had a severe case of FOMO (fear of missing out) which always left me feeling quite torn. This attitude never really bothered me as I’d never come across a time where it was challenged nor tested. Well a yearlong internship with 14 different strong, experienced, personalities definitely changed that.
The internship was outdoor based, and on a week-long difficult expedition I suffered extreme anxiety due to worrying that my navigation skills wouldn’t match up to the skill of the other interns. No sleep, vomiting and litres of sweat later I was taken off the expedition and bought back to the inside world. Whilst I was away from my peers, I discovered later that I had become the topic of conversation, and not in a positive way. Looking back on it now, it’s something that is so minor that if happened today I know my reaction would be so different. But it affected me so much at the time! I spent nights crying, it affected my self esteem and it took me over a week to work up the courage to ask them why they had said the things they did. During this internship I was extremely lucky to have the most amazing mentors, that I still think of them today wondering if they’ll ever really know how much they influenced me. One of my mentors sat me down for a chat during this ordeal, not saying much but simply asking me if I was going to choose to be the Knight in this story or a princess. After asking for an explanation he went on to explain to me that the princess resembles the classic princess character in every fairytale, the one that sits in the tower waiting to be rescued when all she needed to do was defeat the dragon herself. The knight resembles, one again, the classic character that takes a challenge head on to get what they want, even if that means defeating a fire breathing dragon.
My fire breathing dragon was confrontation, how could I possibly confront someone and a negative situation, it seemed like such a daunting thing at the time. This knight & princess analogy really hit home for me, and I realised that I was hosting a pity party for one person that was never going to end unless I stood up and did something about it.
I’ll never forget that confrontational conversation I had a week later. It was awkward, it was long, I felt all the negativity, all the hate and all the love and it was wonderful in everyway. It was probably just a normal conversation to the other two people involved but to me it was a huge turning point in my realisation that to grow and learn we must first face our anxiety’s and worry.
Choosing to be a knight has helped me several times throughout my life since then, particularly a year ago and up until now when I was put through a betrayal from my once best friend and a heartbreak I never knew existed. It would’ve been so easy, and it was for a few months, to wait in my tower of sadness to be rescued. But no one was coming to rescue me. I made a change, a commitment and promise to myself that I was going to defeat that fire breathing dragon no matter how long it took to defeat. He is still breathing, but he is no longer blocking my path to happiness.
Whether you’re wondering how to get out of your funk, or tackle a situation you’ve been avoiding considering if you want to play the knight in your story, or the princess and remember, sometimes we first have to experience what it’s like to be the princess trapped in the tower to decide to tackle the dragon.
A fairytale mouthful! But a damn good one.
Earthy Tales 
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