Feeling the feelings

A long time ago, there was a prince in a kingdom. His father was a very powerful and fierce ruler and he wanted his child to be the same. From childhood, the prince was not allowed to act and behave in certain ways that other children could. One such boundary was that the prince was not allowed to express his emotions. He was not allowed to laugh when happy and cry when sad.

Every evening, the other children used to come to the royal gardens to play with the prince. But even when playing, the prince was not allowed to act like the other kids. Frustrated with this, he asked his father why is he not allowed to behave like the other kids. The king replied, “My child, you are the soon-to-be king of the empire, you must have the attitude of one. Expressing your emotions makes you look vulnerable in front of others, hence you must not express them”.

Many times, the prince used to get very upset from the royal rules but he had no choice but to follow them. One day, when the prince was lying sadly on his bed, an angel from the fairyland came to him and said “Oh little prince, you look very sad, tell me a wish you want to fulfil?” The prince was surprised and said, “I want to be like a normal child for a day, away from these boundaries, can you help me do that?” The angel agreed to fulfil his wish, she flew him to the town near the kingdom and magically changed the price’s attire to make him look like a normal child. She told the prince to come back before the evening so that they could go back to the kingdom. The prince went to the kids nearby and started playing with them. For the first time in his life, he felt the real joy of playing with friends. He laughed and showed great enthusiasm while playing, and cried when he fell, letting all his emotions out. 

He felt relieved from the emotional control that he had to show as a prince. As the prince was enjoying his freedom, the sun went down. He realized that it was evening and went back to the angel who took him back to the kingdom. The prince thanked the angel for fulfilling his wish. That day, the prince realized how relieving it is to express our true emotions. “I am going to make a few changes to the rules when I grow up,” decided the prince that day.

What we learnt

Expressing our emotions and feelings is very essential for our mental health. Hiding them can be painful and depressing.