From her humble attic room, sweet Cinderella gets up every single day with a smile and a dream and continues to work in her suffocating home with grace.  We should all admire her work ethic. 

She is the truest example of a princess Disney has. She is grace and kindness and magic. One of the most beloved characters of all time, Cinderella has become the iconic representation of a princess, and true love. But does she deserve that title?

Her persistent kindness results in allowing people to abuse her work ethic. I am the biggest advocate for choosing kindness, but not if it means letting people walk all over us. Cinderella never stands up for herself, even when she should. We don’t have to all be fighters, but we also don’t have to be slaves in our own households.

Being kind doesn’t mean we have to be weak.

We can fight for ourselves while also treating people well.

Kindness is her only personality trait, which we have now stretched to be the image of grace and regality, but it honestly just means she is boring. Thankfully there are a thousand versions of her story to bring her life and personality (thx Hilary Duff), but in her original form, Cinderella is a bore.

Cinderella is a dreamer who works hard to make them come true. We’re quick to say that Cinderella waits for a man to save her, but she was never seeking love, just a night out. When the possibility of a ball presents itself, she doesn’t scheme or wait to be invited – she asks to go. When she is told she can if she finishes her chores, she doesn’t complain she just gets to work. And even when her step mother and sisters continue to pile on chores, she keeps smiling and keeps working.

Because she treats everyone with kindness, her friends help make her dream come true and there is no shame in the help she receives from them. And then she dances the night away with the Prince. She wasn’t even hoping to win him over, and she won the best one on one in bachelor history.

Cinderella has a simple story, and simple personality. But she when she falls in love, she really embodies true love and gives us the ultimate, timeless love story creating a magic we seek everyday for ourselves. Her love with the Prince is sweet and romantic and equal. The way he fights for her makes us fall in love, too. I will always love her love story and see magic within it.

Cinderella is tragic when she doesn’t stand up for herself, but her magic of kindness and working for her dreams is unlike any other.  That magic fuels entire kingdoms. 

We should admire how she handles her tragedies with grace. We all have our challenges. Tragic happens to everyone.  Wicked stepmothers lock us away. We get dumped.  We live in toxic households.  We’re lonely. When people are mean out of spite,

Respond with kindness.

Ask your fairy godmother for help.  

Fight to attend the dance.

Don’t stop working on your dreams.

Cinderella believes in dreams and treating people with kindness, and that will always win out over any amount of tragic.