Ever since I was a little girl, I have been intrigued by fairytales and princesses. Disney movies and classic fairytale stories broaden my imagination and provided me with hope as a child. As I grew older, it was apparent to me that fairytales and happy endings were not real. Real life is not as black-and-white as the stories made them out to be.

Recently, my brother has got me hooked on the show "Once Upon A Time" and I have been binge-watching it on Netflix. I was hesitant to watch the show in the first place because the original fairytales held a special place in my heart, but once I watched the first episode, I fell in love with the show. These famous heroes and villains were introduced to the real world and had to keep fighting for their versions of a happy ending. By watching this show, I developed a question about their ongoing fight to obtain "happily ever after".

How can real life people obtain real life happy endings?

Bad things happen all the time, and I have experienced hard times just like anyone else. I kept wondering why bad things happen to good people and why good things happen to bad people. But then I realized something:

We all experience tragedy and heartache, no matter if we are labeled as a good or bad person, and we all deserve happiness.

If we had true happiness, then the dark places in our hearts might grow smaller until they disappear altogether.

So how can one achieve a happy ending despite the bad moments to come? Over the years, I have learned that we tend to dwell on the bad and impossible moments over all the good things surrounding us. I have taken for granted what I have been blessed with and have been blind to what was in front of me all along.

In order to obtain my happily ever after, I now know that I have to surround myself with the people who care about me and love me. Those people will help to shed light on the good when I am drowning in the darkness. Immense strength is used to bounce back from hard times, and the right people in your life can help you do that.

Life is not always perfect and once we get what we dreamed of, the story does not end there.

Fairy tales are not real, but the lessons from the stories are true and we can apply them to our lives. We all have to keep fighting for our happy endings, just like our beloved fictitious heroes and villains.

"Happily ever after" is not the ending to our stories, it is simply the beginning. We have to keep fighting to protect what we love and for our happiness. In the real world, we are the writers of our own happy endings and we get to decide who fights alongside all of us.

The choice is up to us whether or not we want to succumb to the darkness to be a villain or to live in the light and be a hero.