GK Chesterton once said, “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell the children the dragons can be killed.” Maybe in traditional fairy tales the knight in shining armor can slay the dragon and save the princess all in the same tale. But this reality that we’re stuck in is called life, and in life sometimes you have to make the decision as to whether or not you’re going to slay the dragon or save the princess because chances are you cannot have both.

In life you are often presented with two choices—maybe even more—and you’re expected to make a choice. You’re expected to choose between the princess and the dragon. You have to make a choice between two things that are equally as important to you. As much as you want to save the princess you also want to destroy the dragon and save the rest of the kingdom. You’re in love with the princess (or prince for my fellow ladies out there!), but you care about the well-being of the kingdom as well so you also really want to slay the dragon. You’re torn because either way you have to give up something that is really important to you—so what do you do?

First, stop trying to control everything. Accept the fact the life is not a fairy tale and, except for very rare circumstances, you are not going to be able to save the princess and still slay the dragon. Don’t try to find a way around making the tough decision to save one or slay the other because in the process of trying to choose both of them, chances are you are going to lose your chance to do either one of them. And as a result of trying to do both things (and consequently losing out on both things) you’re going to sit around and complain about how you should have just made a decision in the first place. Now, how’s that for a never-ending vicious cycle?

Don’t wonder about what you missed out on by choosing one thing over the other. If you choose to save the princess, don’t ponder what would have happened if you had slain the dragon. Maybe you expected that you would end up fighting the dragon, but you end up saving the princess. Life doesn’t always end up the way you think it will, but never doubt that it ended up the way it should be. As a senior in high school I thought I was going to major in Biology with Secondary Education and minor in Philosophy. I’m currently a double major in English Literature and English Journalism, and in the fall I will officially just be a Journalism major with concentrations in Investigative and Political Journalism. So yeah, I didn’t expect to make the choices I’ve made that have gotten me to this point. But I still don’t question what would have happened if I would have pursued my original plan because I know that the choices I made, as tough as they were at times, lead me to where I am today.

So, the next time you are presented with a tough decision remember that as scary as it may be to choose one option over the other, trust your instinct. You can’t control the fact that you have to make choices in this world, and maybe your choices lead you somewhere different than where you intended. But where you are is exactly where you’re supposed to be.