The Awakening Of Sleeping Beauty
Once upon a time there was a sleeping beauty who, in order to wake up, needed her prince to kiss her and break the spell that had been placed on her. He was her savior, the one who would deliver her from her long lethargy and help her awaken. But what if the prince never appears? What happens if the expectations of salvation that the sleeping beauty has placed in him do not materialize?
Many relationships today still seem to be based on this model. We tend to appeal to that prince who does not arrive, and until he is there, we adopt the role of spectators of life.
We remove the batteries from our personal alarm clock to put all hope in an elusive man who comes to wake us up, make us happy, active. If we meet him, but then he moves away from us, we are seized by despair and we fall into a perennial sleep that prevents us from enjoying life, a limbo in which nothing makes sense if the loved one is not at our side.
The enchanted kisses
The world is full of sleeping beauties. Women who receive a kiss from a prince without having decided it, perhaps without even really wanting it. Once received, however, they cling to their savior. He who saved them deserves a reward. They would not be able to turn their backs on him, never mind that no other prince arrives …
It is at this point that they form a submissive relationship, in which they are grateful day by day to have met a prince who saved them. They dedicate themselves entirely to him, to him they owe their life and, consequently, their happiness. They know they will live happily ever after… Until the day they notice that something is wrong. Their prince no longer looks at them as before, he seems to be fed up. The spell is broken and reality appears painful and cruel.
It is the moment when love turns into suffering and, at the same time, into a constant struggle to keep it alive. Sleeping beauty strives, gives everything, humbles herself. But nothing is the same anymore. The beauty wonders if the prince ever loved her, or if the only thing he wanted was to give her a kiss and, at that moment, he let himself be carried away. He also wonders what he did wrong, maybe he shouldn’t have made things so easy, he should have continued sleeping even after that fateful kiss …
Sleeping Beauty has lost her identity, she has depended on the prince from the very beginning. If he leaves her, she will cease to exist, as she even needed him to come back to life. Emotional dependence has put her in chains, love is no longer synonymous with happiness, but with effort and suffering. The beauty believes that she will die whenever her prince distances himself from her. It is not fair, but perhaps it is necessary. It’s time for Sleeping Beauty to wake up – again – but this time for herself.
Sleeping Beauty can wake up… without a prince
Fairy tales with princesses have always taught us that we need someone else to be happy, that we are somehow incomplete, what nowadays translates as emotional addiction. We are nothing without each other, our happiness and integrity depend on how the other person is and feels. That’s not fair, is it? Because it is not the same for the other person.
Sleeping Beauty is tired of waiting for a prince to come and give her a kiss to wake her up, as this would imply that she loves very little, that she is unable to face life alone, that she needs someone else. What would happen if he stopped waiting, resigned himself and opened his eyes? He would discover how strong he is, he would understand that princes are not saviors and that it is not right to deposit such great power in them. Whether he’s a good prince or an evil prince, he’ll eventually get overwhelmed with that responsibility and walk away.
The time is over to surrender and offer ourselves to the first person who approaches with the intention of saving us. It is enough to see things rosy and flowery until time passes and the situation deteriorates. We tend to wear lenses that allow us to see things as we want, because we are afraid of the truth that would appear in our eyes if we took them off.
If the prince does not arrive, the risk is that the sleeping beauty will die without ever having woken up, and this happens too often. If the love of life does not come, we are sad, we complain, “nobody loves me!”, “I am not worth anything”. How can you think you are worthless? Do you need someone who recognizes your worth to believe you?
It’s time for Sleeping Beauty to wake up once and for all and stop letting herself be subjugated by princes who, perhaps, will one day turn into toads. The beauty has the right to choose the prince, the beauty must not limit herself to waiting for him. She loves herself, appreciates herself and knows she deserves the best. Her life will not be better because a man takes her with him. His life is complete and full. The sleeping beauty, once aware of this, woke up without needing anyone and it was then that she began to love (yes), realizing that she was beautiful in itself.
