I used to believe in fairy tales. I used to believe that everything would always have a happy ending. Maybe it’s because I watched too many Disney movies growing up, but I always thought my life would be like a fairy tale, or at least I hoped it would be.

As young girls, we were taught to wait for our Prince Charming – the one who would ride in and sweep us off our feet – our white knight or our knight in shining armour. We were taught to wait for him, because that’s what would make everything okay. He’s the one who would fix everything.

I learned many things from fairy tales while I was young. I learned that life would be magical, and I learned that I would fall in love with a boy, and that that would be the happiest moment of my story.

It has taken me nearly ten years to unlearn the messages spread to me through my favourite childhood movies.

As I got older, I realised that these storylines gave me distorted ambitions and false narratives. Life isn’t anything like a fairy tale. Good things don’t just come to those who wait, and bad things happen to good people every day.

Love doesn’t just fall into your lap; you have to work for it. There is more to achieve in life than love. Prince charming is not the solution to all your problems, and life is absolutely nothing like a Disney movie.

But that’s okay. In fact, it’s more than okay. It’s great.

Our lives are beautiful because they aren’t anything like Disney movies. There are highs and there are lows. And the bad moments make the good ones even more powerful.

Life isn’t filled with magical moments, and no one’s life is perfect. We all have our hurdles and we all have our battles. But that’s what makes life worth living.

We don’t need Prince Charming to be happy, and he’s not the answer to all our problems. No man is.

In life we will go through changes and challenges, and most of the time, the person who will pull us out will be ourselves. As little girls we were shown scenarios time and time again of women who were “damsels in distress” and needed saving. But as I got older, I realised that I don’t need anyone to save me. I didn’t need to be rescued. I didn’t need my Prince Charming.

The person I needed had been within me all along.