Inspiration

In keeping with my Frost theme today: Something we were withholding made us weak, until we found it was ourselves. ~ Robert Frost

I've recently been scaling back on my use of technology ... I have not rid myself of it altogether, though I can't imagine the kind of peace I may feel if I had, even for a week. But I am working toward a tranquility akin to that. I don't think we realize just how much information we process on a daily basis through Facebook, Twitter, our cell phones, the internet, television. Those are all useful tools, yes, but I've found that in moderating them, a weight I didn't even realize was there has been lifted. 

Tonight I found myself remembering a childhood story: The Princess and the Pea -  http://childhoodreading.com/?p=5

As I'm sure most girls did as children, I used to pretend I was a princess, but in my fairy tale world, I didn't know it. Being a self-proclaimed Tom Boy, I would rather run around outside, talk to the trees, fight battles and dig into the soil than pretend to be a dainty princess. But my plot would often revolve around my identity being hidden from me my entire life by a wicked stepfather or captor. I only knew I was something special by the secret language I spoke to the trees and the air. However, like any girl, princess or not, there was always a constant plea in my heart for a prince to come rescue me. 

In "The Princess and the Pea," she was unfailing in her belief of her identity ... and feeling the pea beneath 20 mattresses was proof to her prince. I, too, have always felt my own version of a "pea" beneath me, making me restless every day and aching for the courage to embrace my identity and find my own version of "happily ever after." I envy the fairytale princess that. And perhaps all of that childhood whimsy is a product of my society or maybe I was and will always be, on some level, a romantic. But I've come to realize, the "prince" isn't necessarily a person ... the prince is me.  


~ C ~