Writing your own fairytale

Anxiety is a trap. It keeps you in a prison that you have created yourself. Harsh words, bad memories, worries and insults surround you as you look out the window, wondering what life really is to the people passing you by. There's only one way to find out, and it's not like you don't know this, but you're scared. You're scared that someone will break you, once you've already been broken, you're afraid to trust others and you don't think optimistically in order to avoid being let down. Welcome to Go Dok Mi's world. To me, it sounds really familiar and terrifyingly miserable. Enrique saves Go Dok Mi by helping her save herself. He helps her see that you can trust people, and that they won't abandon you or let you down every time you need help. Go Dok Mi is annoyed at first. Her daily routine is no longer the same familiar pattern, and someone is constantly knocking on her door, telling her how great the world is. She hates it. Over and over she tells him to stop, and she does all she can to push him away. She tries to stick to her routine, but she can't avoid being with people forever. She begins to get used to this interruption, and starts to expect it. Enrique gives her a list of things that she should do everyday, and he creates a board game that will determine which risk she has to take daily in order to enjoy living. Go Dok Mi accepts the gift but doesn't use it right away. After a while, she gets curious and rolls the dice. This is her first step to healing. Once Go Dok Mi starts to hang out with people and learn about Enrique, she gets scared and runs away. But by that point, she has become so used to doing things, that she can't just stay in her room all the time anymore. It takes time, but Go Dok Mi finally becomes part of the world around her. She hangs out with friends and starts to learn about her own goals and dreams by helping others. She wants to write, and loves fairy tales, so she decides that she will write a fairy tale of her own. Enrique learns this, and tells her "Live, and write your own fairy tale."
This Korean Drama is one of the most inspiring and heartfelt stories that I have seen. Each small step is painstakingly slow, but necessary. I learned something by watching this series. Small steps are not nothing. When facing anxiety and fear, the small steps are extremely important, and they need to be appreciated instead of ignored. Regret is one of the motivators to change your life. You don't want to wonder  "what if" for your entire life, and if you take a step, instead of freeze, you probably won't regret it.
You can also think, "Why didn't I learn this sooner?" "Why couldn't I know then what I know now?"
Because life is a process, and lessons are learned through mistakes. Mistakes aren't always bad, and some mistakes can turn into blessings. Like Enrique tells Go Dok Mi, "you can start a journey with anger in your heart, but that anger can change to happiness." Go Dok Mi learned to live and now she's writing her own fairytale. My goal this year is to do the same. It's time to live, and write my own fairy tale.

Rapunzel versus the Witch : Flower Boy Next Door

I think this voice rings true for people like Go Dok Mi and myself. It's interesting that Go Dok Mi admits that she shut herself away, which makes her more of the evil witch in Rapunzel than the character of Rapunzel herself. But this is something we all do sometimes. We become our own enemy, with brutal internal criticism and excuse after excuse to keep us from achieving what we really want. I think this is the beginning of regret. Once you trap yourself in a situation, you only have yourself to blame, but at the same time you are still a victim, and still feel powerless and helpless to venture into the unknown. Go Dok Mi is wise in both admitting and accepting this about her situation. After all, they say that acceptance is a step forward from the trap of bad habits. Once you admit you are doing something wrong, you are motivated to change your habit and move forward to create a better way of life. 

Flower Boy Next Door Quote

If Rapunzel never left the tower . . .

there would be no story.

I'm currently watching the Korean Drama "Flower Boy Next Door" where a girl in her twenties named Go Dok Mi lives her life in her room and rarely ventures outside. Due to a traumatic past, she never speaks to people unless she has to, and stays in her room, watching her crush from the window as much as possible. With a job that doesn't involve meeting people (freelance editing) and a simple routine to keep away from strangers, you would think that Go Dok Mi would succeed in her goal of staying away from the world.
Then Enrique, her crush's younger brother catches her staring at the apartment and won't leave her alone. He is determined to make Go Dok Mi face her fears, and encourages her to live life the way it's supposed to be . . . with other people.
I find that I can relate to this story in more ways than one. I may not sit by myself and stay in my room all day, but I do avoid others as much as possible, and I observe instead of live. But as I watched this show, I thought of something. Characters have to act. If they don't, there literally is no story. Readers don't tend to enjoy people that ponder over things and never come to a decision. In the end, a decision has to be made, and the main character must leave the familiar and face the unknown.
So if Rapunzel never left the tower . . . there would be no story.