They depend on conflict and climax and closure.
They lived happily ever after.
A story needs to be an unveiling a before picture becomes an after picture.
Chrissy Stockton
The hero makes the journey and comes home transformed.
Another thing about stories: the princess is always beautiful.
There are no exceptions.
We never outgrow this very fundamental idea that beautiful people are good and wicked people are ugly.
I thought the story my whole life was about was how an ugly person became beautiful.
I dont know how to make sense of all this excess plot.
I havent been taught that a happy ending might include my plain old unchanged body.
How can the story end if Im not thin?
This is a story with a happy ending, I dont feel that way anymore.
Cured seems like an intensely strong word, but Im not far off.
I just like the way my body feels soft.
I like that the skin around my eyes is beginning to wear.
I like that I feel free and happy and comfortable.
I like not wearing makeup.
An inside joke Im only aware of through a kind of distant translation.
I know its not for me.
This is not magic, this is a place Ive worked very hard to get to.
Ive forged myself in a refiners fire for the last few years.
Its hard to be vulnerable day after day, but it works.
Or at least, it works in a way that you cant see.
When I say it works I mean that my distress was there and then it was gone.
But my body is still broken.
Im hyper-aware that this argument isnt very convincing because the body is the important part.
The princess must be beautiful.
Its not a very good happy ending if no one else wants it for themselves.
I dont know how to convince anyone else this is a happy ending.
Ive done this intensely personal thing and I dont know how to talk about it.
When someone I havent seen in a while asks me whats new?
I dont know how to talk about this important thing.
I dont feel like I have anything to point to.
Its not like slaying dragons.
Maybe theres a difference between what works and what makes a good story.
I dont know why Im waiting for it all to make sense to everyone else, either.
Its not as if anyone elses disbelief is going to disrupt the harmony Ive worked for.
I think we learn that the things worth doing make a good story.
They make sense when you tell them to other people.
If a story is going to help people, it should be honest.
I know the kind of story arc I could tell that would sell magazines.
I think its important to say that what really happened is different.
I was waiting for a transformation.
I was waiting for something people would recognize.
I didnt know that a happy ending might not look happy from the outside.
