Living in the present
I've always been overly fond of fairy tales. As a child, Dad used to say that I lived in another world, which was not too far off the mark. It was my way of distancing myself from reality. We all have methods of coping with stuff; mine has always been to escape.
Watching Enchanted reminded me of all the fairy tales of my childhood. It was hilarious because lines about "true love" and "living happily ever after" -- which are completely at home in fairy tales and cartoons -- don't weather well when transposed into real life. In real life, you get a befuddled guy commenting, "You sound like a Hallmark card!"
Priceless, just priceless.
Admittedly, the movie is just brimming with fairy-tale clichés, yet they're not overdone. They don't come off as ridiculous or corny; they just sound hilarious. I don't know how the scriptwriters and the director managed that, but there you are. (By the way, the trailer sucks -- don't judge the movie based on its trailer.)
I came out of the movie remembering the days when I loved to dream about such clichés, even though I knew -- in my head -- that things don't work quite that way in real life. I remembered how as a child, I'd make up stories as I lay in bed at night, and then the next night would continue the story... about ladies who would suffer Great Trials, only to be rescued by a handsome man who Recognised Their Worth and whose love would Make Up For It All.
I remembered how in my teens, I began reading romance novels and immersed myself in similar fantasies of being 'rescued', despite the predictable plot and arguably bad writing contained in such books. I remembered how when I was in college, I used to wish I had a fairy godmother who would wave her magic wand and solve all my problems (particularly as I was so often broke!). I remembered how, as recently as last year, when anything went wrong I would lament the lack of a boyfriend who could sweep in and take care of everything for me so that I wouldn't have to deal with all this stuff by myself. I even complained that I didn't want God to walk with me through pain and struggle -- I wanted Him to take me out of it!
So you see the pattern: always clinging on to the dream of being 'rescued'. In October last year, one day I was, err, sitting on the 'throne' and, in the midst of picking up yet another romance novel, the thought came to me: "It's time to leave the fairytale behind." I felt this was from God, yet didn't quite know how to respond: I knew it was true, I couldn't go on like this, living in a dream world of wishing for things that wouldn't happen... I needed to live my life, the life that has been given to me.
Recently I realised that I no longer long to be rescued. Life isn't perfect and hasn't been completely smooth going -- my job in particular had its share of bumpiness, including a somewhat difficult colleague -- but when the bumps hit, I was not trying to escape. In fact, I was content and joyful despite the hiccoughs. I did not even think of wanting things to be different, or wanting somebody to whisk me away from all the challenges and responsibilities.
The change just crept up on me. It's taken me so long to leave the fairytale world that I don't want to go back there ever again. Sure, it's nice to dream of happily-ever-afters, but that dream is waaaaay too seductive. And I think it ruins more lives than we know.