Dragons: Misunderstood Beauties

The dragons that we come across in our lives can be just as menacing and terrifying as one would imagine a dragon to be. They rear their beastly heads, breathe the scalding fire that threatens to burn everything in it’s path, and menace our lives with an unparalleled sense of fury. We are not all born princes, the ones who defeat the dragons with a sweep of their magical swords, filled with a bravery and courage that only a prince can possess. Nor are we all damsels in distress, needing the prince to come and save us from the monster that some evil force has enforced to keep us trapped in a castle forever. I am certainly no prince or princess, at least in the metaphorical sense. I am certainly not about to go out and slice off the heads of whatever stand in between myself and my desires. Because what good would that do? We cannot merely overcome one obstacle in our lives, save the princess, and live happily ever after. Life does not work the way a fairytale does. We are supposed to learn from the obstacles, grow, overcome other obstacles, grow some more, and continue with this cycle throughout our lives. Because regardless of how many of them we slay, these dragons are not going to disappear from our lives. They are going to keep coming back in all sorts of shapes and sizes, bringing along as much hurt as they can possess, and throw enough hardships in our lives that we may want to give up, let them win for once. We might feel the need to succumb to their fiery breath, to drop our swords and give up the fight. Dragons in our lives are always going to be a presence that looms around us, waits for us to slip up and make a mistake that opens the door for them to swoop in and roar with ferocity. In Letters To a Young Poet, Rilke is as...

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...es us immortal. We do not live happily ever after, but with a group of ellipses that proves that our story is never ending. We are part of a bigger story, one with a universal theme that unifies each and every human experience together. We are all princes, princesses, dragons, beauty, perfection, imperfection, and every type of contradiction one could think of. That is one definition the word life, a word that is so undefinable that it leads itself to endless amounts of definitions. I suppose I choose the one where dragons are princesses, where every obstacle in our life gives us purpose and meaning. Purpose and meaning push us to succeed and become greater than we ever could imagine. I choose to lead a life with purpose and meaning over any other kind of life. The dragons in my life are princesses, and I will always embrace and learn from every single one of them.