Having an almost-six-year-old daughter means our house is full of fairy tale everything. It has been for a few years, and I suspect things won’t change anytime soon. (I had a brief glimpse of hope last fall when, for a short time leading up to the week of Halloween, Annalyn said she wanted to dress up as Doc McStuffins [a cartoon toy doctor from Disney Junior]. Sadly, just hours before the big day, she reverted back to her princess ways.)
That pic up above? Her Princess Presto costume from two years ago, when I determined that if she had to be a princess, at least she’d be one with spelling powers from a PBS show.
Still, despite my resistance and despite her love of pretend play involving toy hammers, a “detective sketchbook” and anything she can turn into a science experiment, my girl loves fairy tales.
And I can’t blame her. After all, I’ve been a pretty big fan most of my life, too.
But this fall? I’m giving up on fairy tales.
Starting tomorrow and lasting through the month of October, I’ll be participating in Nester’s 31 Days series. That means I’m going to write about one topic for the entire month of October.
Despite what you might assume after this morning’s recipe post, our topic for 31 days will not, in fact, be bacon. Instead, we’re going to talk about fairy tales – or, more accurately, giving up on them.
Because fairy tales are not real.
And our real lives? The ones that don’t look anything like the fairy tales or what we dreamed? They’re WAY better.
Playwright Eugene O’Neill said, “Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace.”
Ouch! Let’s not waste our lives searching for perfection tied up with a fairy tale bow. Let’s choose, right now, to grab hold of our real lives, our true selves and embrace every second of this challenging, gritty, beautiful, messy reality that we have instead.
Speaking of our real lives being better than our fantasies or those pesky fairy tales, I’ve put together an ebook just for you! Well, just for you if you subscribe to my blog.
Finding a Happier Ever After will be available FOR FREE to everyone who subscribes to this blog by email, beginning tomorrow. {You can go ahead and subscribe now!} Though my new ebook focuses on expectations in marriage, this month’s series won’t stop there.
In 31 days of Giving Up on Fairy Tales, we’ll tackle our preconceived notions about what our homes, families, careers, faith and more would or should look like. I’ll share a bit about how I’m getting on with my awesome, non-fairy-tale life, but I also want to hear from you!
That’s why every Wednesday, I’ll share a writing prompt and provide a place for you to link up your own posts about how you’re giving up on fairy tales. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say! I’ll give you specific prompts and dates tomorrow when we start.
Join me for 31 Days of Giving Up on Fairy Tales! Come back tomorrow, and we’ll start with – what else? – Once Upon a Time.
Day 1 – Once Upon a Time (an intro)
Day 2 – Childhood Dreams (Link-Up #1)
Day 3 – Facing Facts About the Kind of Girl I Am
Day 4 – Throwing Away the Imaginary Things
Day 5 – Before & After: A Fairy Tale Kind of Mash-Up
Day 6 – Fantasy is Unreality
Day 7 – That’s One Way to Get a Corner Office
Day 8 – A Very, Very, Very Fine House
Day 9 – Dream Home (Link-Up #2)
Day 10 – Coveting Cleaning Ladies & Other Sins
Day 11 – Castles Need Foundations
Day 12 – Driving Cadillacs in Our Dreams
Day 13 – Like a Child…
Day 14 – Somewhere Between the Bravermans and the Griswolds
Day 15 – Nineteen Years Ago Today…
Day 16 – Family Matters (Link-Up #3)
Day 17 – And then she said, “You don’t love me!”
Day 18 – Happiness is Like a Palace
Day 20 – Life to the Full
Day 21 – Friendship Fairy Tales & Wishes
Day 22 – Scrapping Some More Fairy Tales
Day 23 – Teenage Dreams (Link-Up #4)
Day 24 – Princess Dresses Don’t Come in Plus Sizes
Day 27 – Maybe We Could All Use a Reminder
Day 28 – What I Do on Sunday Mornings
Day 30 – Great {Faith} Expectations (Link-Up #5)
Day 31 –
[And don’t forget to subscribe, so you get your free copy of Finding a Happier Ever After and every post of 31 Days to Giving Up on Fairy Tales!]
What a fantastic idea! I’m looking forward to your posts and the book!
I’m so excited for this series! The link-ups are a fun idea, too.
Oh my — this is going to be awesome! I’m a fairytale gal and this peaks my interest. WAY fun.
Love this series! Cant wait to read it all! :-)
Can’t wait to start reading your 31 Days. I need to give up a few fairy tales myself.
Love this idea! My daughter is almost five, so I can relate to the princess side of everything! And I mean everything!
The princess phenomenon really does infect every part of their little lives, doesn’t it?
love it! ans just subscribed so I won’t miss any!
Oh yay! This is going to be fun, Anita!
Look at you writing an ebook! Interesting topic, Mary. Looking forward to seeing where you take it.
Haha. Well, it was more of me curating an ebook from past posts and making it kind of pretty. ;) But thank you. I’m excited to see where this goes, too.
Really love your topic! Wonderful post!
Thanks, Ashley! I hope you can join us as we walk through this series. I think we’re going to have some great conversations!
Sounds like fun! Looking forward to your next post.
Thanks, Donna!
Love the topic, love your theme. Stopping by from The Nester’s place…
Thanks for stopping by, Adelle. I hope you can join us for some great conversations this month!
Oh! This series looks great. Love the topic you’ve chosen. It’s so easy to buy into the lie! I look forward to the upcoming posts! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading along, Leslie. This should be fun!
Talk about a useful series! My husband and I talk about “fairyland” fairly often, and the fact that it’s a bad idea to live there.
Yes. Not too bad to visit every once in a while, but we just can’t live there forever!