Those Disney endings, that make us all wish we were princess, where the prince and the princess end up blissfully married? Yeah, they don't really happen in the original stories. All that cruelty poor Cinderella endured at the hands of her overbearing stepmother might have been deserved. In the oldest versions of the story, Cinderella actually kills her first stepmother so her father will marry the housekeeper instead. I guess she wasn’t expecting the fantastic step sisters or the list of chores. In the original version of Sleeping Beauty, it was not a handsome prince that woke the princess, it was her newborn twins. That's right. While unconscious, the princess is impregnated by a king, and wakes up to find out she's a mom! Even the little mermaid’s happily ever after wasn’t so happy (Grimm, 69). In Hans Christian Andersen's original tale, Ariel can only come on land to be with the handsome prince if she drinks a potion that makes it feel like she is …show more content…
Interestingly, this could be the worst advice ever. From the time we are born our parents are asked a myriad of questions about their hopes for our future. What will we be? Who will we become? And inevitably they answer: I just want her to be happy. No pressure. According to the National Institute of Mental Health depression is the leading cause of disability in the United States. So much for just being happy! The NIMH also reported that in 2011 over 350,000,000 people globally are suffering from depression. The National Center for Health Statistics, reported the results of a 2011 study on the rise in rate of antidepressant use in this country among teens and adults. “The study found that it increased by almost 400% between 1988 and 2008.” 400 percent! We are setting ourselves up to fail. Happiness as a goal is unrealistic; seeking happiness is causing an epidemic of