Growing into Courage

“Once upon a time…”

It seems like every child knows that a good story is bound to follow this phrase, usually regarding tales from a land far away and quite different from the known world. Beauty and the Beast (Grimm Brothers) was that ideal story for me. In my mind this was an amazing fairytale adventure, and even as a young child I contemplated running away to discover a castle in the woods. Let me put this in perspective: I lived in the middle of the Texas wilderness, and any tree that grew was planted deliberately in a front yard or was more commonly just the bush of a tumbleweed. As an adult, I still have the urge to break out of my box, struggling with the realization that the relationships and experiences that I have right now are still important. However awkward the process of growing up was, it has given me some good insight on what it means to live outside my comfort zone, to experience joy even when I have to stay right where I am. There is evidence that the themes of beauty, insight and courage resonate with many other people as well. This old story has so many reiterations through plays, books, movies, and tv shows. It teaches my inner child to stay alert for new adventures and to always fix my eyes on hope.

I related to the protagonist, Belle, in the story for several reasons, but as a child I liked that she had brown hair like me and that she enjoyed reading. Somewhere between second and third grade I started devouring the stories of Archie, Nancy Drew, and Highlights’ short story compilations, among others. Stories emerged from my imagination, enhancing the possibilities that resided outside of my own reality. As I grew older, this insight developed my creativity and later expanded my reading interests. One example, to which Beauty and the Beast would attest, is that my favorite genre to read was historical fiction, with the occasional mystery thrown in. Once I realized that Belle's fairytale was written with other Grimm's stories, I started on the classics. This was helpful because I was required to read several strange stories during high school, at least according to my teenage mind. The strangest as a twelve-year-old was The Hobbit (Tolkien), which is the prequel to my now-favorite trilogy of all time. Once I was in my late twenties, I started reading more contemporary books with a twist of fantasy, looking for great stories that embedded fantastical elements within real-life situations. Sci-fi and dystopian have their place, and some of this genre are books that I have re-read again and again. There is still something to be said for relatable stories with adventure and intrigue, especially if the twist at the end is not something that I would have originally imagined.

Various themes from this story hit me as I continued to grow. Another element that I was drawn to in Beauty and the Beast is that Belle overcame a problem that seemed to be insurmountable. She found good within the heart of a Beast when everyone told her she should be terrified. To conquer this problem, she had to step into things that were outside of her comfort zone, and this pushed her to think beyond what she was accustomed to believe. She made a choice with devastating consequences, but chose to LIVE when she could have just shriveled up within herself. No one would have blamed her. Along these lines, I started stepping out of my comfort zone when I was a young teen, initially through summer group activities at camp. These group times were my least favorite because I had to talk to people I didn't know. I hated it, and within the span of a week, I was more likely to make friends with the girl in the corner sitting by herself than the “family group” that I was supposed to open up to. I was an introvert and I was miserable.

This awkward series of moments ended up creating within me a more mature thought process and expanding my courage in interactions. Like Belle, year after year I attended these summer camps and developed a thicker skin out of necessity. I grew more sure of myself and spoke up when I didn't agree with something or made an effort to play games and chat with new friends. My fears were confronted on a new level whenever I visited Spain for the first time at age twenty-three, spending a month in a country where everyone seemed to know more than me. I had a strange accent to the Spaniards because I had learned my Spanish from teachers primarily from Mexico. It confused me to hear the quick, beautiful tones of Salamancan natives and I struggled to grasp new concepts. It took a few weeks, but during that time I began to hang out with other students and teachers who encouraged me widen my tiny comfort zone.

This language trip was the beginning of my love for travel, and later I was finally able to haggle in the marketplace and develop friendships with students from all around the world. It made me realize that people from different cultures could teach me new things and I didn’t always have to have all the right answers. It was uncomfortable at first, but developed the vision within me to see that displacement was something that could expand my fear into something far more rewarding. To this day I continue to use Spanish and am beginning to explore new literary authors and other unknown stories outside of my previous experiences. In the future I hope this mindset will permeate my future family’s imagination, too!