Life Isn't Always Like A Fairytale...

As a little girl, like most little girls, I was obsessed with Disney and often thought that maybe my Mum and Dad had got it wrong, and that I was actually a princess and my life would turn out like in the movies...a fairytale.  As I grew up, I realized that my Mum and Dad had obviously been very right about the fact I wasn't a Princess, other than being the Princess of the family, which I proudly still hold the title of today due to my diva'ish ways.

But the fairytale aspect of my life was something that I still hung onto the idea of for many years, and still do to this day in a way. When I was in my teens, like the majority of teenagers parents, mine pushed me to achieve my dreams and told me "You can be anything you want if you put your mind to it", this combined with the bank full of knowledgeable Disney film story lines I had imprinted on my brain, I had this illusion or plan if you may for the rest of my life in my head....I was going to go to university, meet the love of my life (which of course would be in some sort of over the top, dramatic way like that of a Disney Story Line) get my dream job straight out of University and have a great career, get a house, get married, have children and obviously live happily ever after.

Now you're probably thinking well what's so wrong with that? That's the standard path of life for many people right? give or take some of the over-dramatic, Disney influenced events. Well for me, all these things that I planned out, I had, what now seems, an un-realistic age restraint too. I recently turned 24 and within my set plan that I'd envisioned, since probably the age of 8/9, by now, I'd have finished University,  I'd have my dream job straight out of University, I'd be with my life partner and at least be engaged with a house of my own with said partner. I have achieved one of those five things by the age of 24 in reality, which in some sad sort of way, despite having achieved the only semi realistic achievement out of the five, which was going to university, it still makes me feel like a failure.

I feel like I've let myself down and my family down because I haven't got my dream Fashion Designer job, or a fashion designer job at all for that matter, straight out of University, which in some weird way, everyone around me also expected me to have achieved straight away and now because I haven't, they think I should give up on my dream and just settle for a standard office job. What happened to the "You can be anything you want to be, if you put your mind to it"?

I feel like I've let myself and my family down because I've been so unlucky in love over the years and probably guarded myself too much because of this when it comes to opening up and welcoming in new love and relationships from new individuals and therefore am still currently single with no ring on my finger and no house of my own.

The point I'm trying to make is life isn't always like a fairytale and life doesn't always follow the plan we map out for ourselves when we were younger...but that's okay! Recently I've been really caught up in the fact that I'm a failure because I graduated from my MA nearly 6 months ago and still haven't got a Fashion Designer job role under my belt and am still on an 8 hour contract for a company that I have worked for for three years and don't feel valued as an individual or employee of the company any more.

This is somewhat to do with me letting  negative comments, which have been being said to me, get to me too much, but mainly I think because I set this "fairytale'esque" age restraint, plan out for myself when I was younger and I haven't managed to achieve it because life's not a fairytale. But I have achieved so much more than I thought I would have by my age that wasn't in my "plan", including having two degrees in a subject that I love, and hopefully (sending major pleads to the fashion gods) will have a secure, job in very soon and I've also had the opportunity to travel and work around the world in places I never thought I would and am lucky enough to still be able to travel to new places frequently, if you follow my personal page on Instagram you'll know I've been on four trips already this year.

To conclude, although I'm not saying that I'm never going to get my dream job or I'm never going to meet my Prince Charming and live happily ever after (Ring, House & Children included), I'm just saying that there's no rush for it to happen or any age restraint for it to happen by, like I thought it did when I was younger...everyone grows at their own pace and if we were all the same, life would be pretty boring.

So although I very much still believe in fairytale's I've realized through my own life path, that there's a lot of blank space between these "fairytale'esque" events that the likes of Disney don't fill you in about as a child, but that's okay. The magic of a fairytale would lose its touch if it became reality every day, don't you think?

Jess xo