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Fairy Tales are more than true not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten

– Neil Gaiman

The discussions about possible vs impossible, realism vs optimism never seem to grow old. Each time, I try to think about it, I feel like there are so many new things to write about. This post is one such attempt where we try to embrace the ideas of seemingly impossible tasks.

The Dragons that can be beaten – Challenges and Fears!

Quote analysis often tends to take a highly subjective view. In this scenario, I would equate fairy tales to the extravagant goals. The heart of this quote lies in the reality of problems we are constantly plagued by.

Often the first reaction for the huge challenges we face are of fear, helplessness and sometimes even debilitation. In other words, some of these troubles have the capacity to stop us in our tracks.

What do we do in such a scenario? I think the first step is to stop asking what we should do and maybe start thinking what we could do!

Knee Jerk Reaction to the Problems

The foremost reaction to most challenges is either fight or flight. Time and again we are taught by the many quotes or cultures to face these fears head on.

We are also taught that we are bigger than these fears and they don’t stand a chance against us. There was a time when I used to believe this with utmost conviction. The newer realisation is of a certain respect to these problems and fears. They are as real as the oxygen in the air surrounding us. It would be rather foolish to deny the things that we don’t like or fear.

The moment we run into these denials, we miss the opportunity to think strategically and resolve the issues plaguing us. If we decide to run away instead, the problems are not going to run away. They will only be there, grow stronger and return to hit us back when we are least ready.

So what is the solution to these dragons? I am afraid I can’t give a single line answer, but I can assure that acceptance is a very good starting point. 

The limiting beliefs!

All these challenges – particularly the monstrous ones come out as a single message to me. Are we limiting ourselves holding on to beliefs that are not going to help us.

These beliefs often manifest as:

• I have failed in the past, maybe I will fail again
• How is this any different, such things happen to me all the time
• I am not lucky enough, there are others who have undue advantage.

Most of these responses can be argued as valid. But these are still reasons. End of the day, who really cares about these reasons? The only thing that matters is whether we can beat the dragons that hold us back?

In the business world, we often use the phrase BHAGs – the big hairy audacious goals. We ought to have them to provide us the vision, mission to head in the right direction. These later translate into individual goals which help us get there. Not that it always means we will resolve everything we face. It still means we give it a bloody good shot in the attempt to face these dragons

Fairy Tales are more than true not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten

– Neil Gaiman