The idea, or concept, of the phrase “happily ever after” has never made sense to me. Not once did I think about my life and see a fairy-tale ending. Not because my life is bad, but because not everything in life is perfect. Not everything in life is supposed to be perfect.

Life doesn’t always go as planned, and it certainly doesn’t happen as we see fit. But that’s all okay. Imagine if freshman year of high school you had to plan the rest of your life and lock it in. Never to be changed or altered. That would be horrific, right?

But life doesn’t happen like that. We get to experience every day differently and while we may take a few hard hits, we learn what it’s like to have absolutely no control. We can become whoever we want, we can learn from our mistakes and grow as individuals. That’s beautiful.

Being happy exists, and eventually we all settle down into the life we made, but happily ever after doesn’t exist - because what we get out of this marvelous life is so much more than that. We get to build our lives every day, adding a new pillar of knowledge and wisdom each day.

So instead of thinking constantly of what your fairytale will be, take a step back and realize that this huge crazy life we are living was perfectly designed for us by us. You have control over your life.

Make it fun and exciting, and don’t constantly wonder when your prince charming will show up or your call saying you’re a princess will come.

Make life your own story, but don’t end it with “and they lived happily ever after” because you’ll never truly be happy with the ending.

Choose to end your story with “and they wrote their own path, and it was perfectly wild.”