Living in the Dream - and in Reality

 My personal desire to live my life as close to the life of a Princess's has existed for a very long time. A post I would eventually like to make is about the books I read as a small child that I think shaped my love of all things princess, but one I will mention now is a series of books called the Tiara Club. I think I picked my first set of them out at a book fair that came to my school when I was probably 6 years old. Inside the set contained magical stories about a group of friends attending a magical princess school. There was a magical fairy godmother matron, wishing classes, dressmaking, ice skating, carriage riding, dragon befriending - everything tiny Princess Cloudy was obsessed over. 

 

this was my favourite one!

 

I loved escaping to this wonderful world where it seemed like everyone could be a princess (though I was sometimes confused about the overall political situation of the world) but I was also intensely upset that I couldn't literally live the life of one of the princess characters in the book. I had to go to an awful school with an awful uniform, and no requirement for ballgowns, tiaras and dancing slippers. This love of princesses followed me into teenage-hood and eventually adulthood. Through this time I have learned the hard lesson that often times life has to be distinctly un-princessy. As a regular girl who doesn't come from heaps of money I have to worry about things like car insurance, apartment hunting, meal planning and making a living (like most of us do/will). This realisation came quite early for me. I tried to think of careers that might feel princess-y but honestly? I'm not sure any exist in the way little Princess Cloudy hoped for. I don't think I'd even like to be a real world Princess! I had a brief stint as a party princess but I quickly realised that wasn't all I'd hoped either; the parents were often difficult, the kids mostly lovely but often a bit gross (I once watched a girl of 4 dump an entire bag of sherbet on a carpet and eat it with her hands), and the lead up to a party would make me so anxious in a way that would leave me feeling distinctly un-princessy. The plan had been to audition as a princess performer in a Disney park when I turned 18, but I realised that they had just as difficult a time, if not more! Eventually I decided to try the university thing - I love history! That is going well for me and I know what my career goals are now, but I'm probably never going to get to wear a ballgown for work, or be driven in a glittering carriage, or stay at a beautiful castle as part of my job (though I refuse to entirely write off that possibility). 

I practice the princess lifestyle as a hobby, and I think this is the best thing for me. What does the princesss hobby look like for me? Well it's really just my way of thinking about my self-care habits alongside my approach to fashion and decor. This is something I have done from quite a young age, especially as a teenager I was very inspired by people on Instagram and YouTube accounts like Princess Liana Rose. 

 

 watch her video "How to be a Princess", it has over 30k views but at least 10k of those are probably me! 

 Overtime I've developed my own Princess Style. Initially I was trying to copy others, but there were so many styles that I loved that I just couldn't commit to one existing aesthetic. I have cultivated my own over the years. I don't know why I thought Princesses had to look, dress, decorate their rooms a specific way, The Tiara Club had tried to teach me that there were many ways to be a perfect Princess years ago.

look! princess casual on the bottom left and right! I would still wear all of these...

 I've started The Princess Guide with the intention of documenting my methods of implementing Princess Self-Care for my own sake (sometimes I literally forget my own methods, especially in the depths of exam season) but also in the hope that someone out there might also find it a useful tool in making their 'regular' lives feel as princessy as possible. I want to post about fashion, decor, activities and mindset. My plan is to work on my first post like this right away to hopefully give you ideas of how to start Princess-ing as a hobby.

The worlds that princesses usually inhabit in stories are often filled with strife and hardship, just like our own, their villains just tend to be fairytale monsters. Even if life is tough, stressful and often doesn't feel like a fairytale, a princess should be able to return to her castle (apartment or bedroom) and find sanctuary there. This is what I want the Princess Guide to be about!

 If you read this, thank you ever so much princess! Until next time, live happily ever after! 

xoxo

 

or perhaps part time 😉