You tell yourself it’ll be different this time. He seems nice. He says all the right things. But three months in, the same patterns emerge… distance, disrespect, disappointment. Another situationship ends, and you’re left wondering: Is it me?

If you’ve found yourself in a cycle of short-term relationships that start fast and burn out just as quickly, it’s time to stop and ask the deeper questions. Not about them, but about you, your patterns, your boundaries, your intuition.

This isn’t about shame. It’s about awakening.

And sometimes, the clearest mirror is a story we’ve heard since childhood.

But this isn’t the Disney version.

This is the version where you reclaim your power.

When Love Feels Like Déjà Vu

If you’ve been in short-term relationships back-to-back lasting three to six months each, can you really count these as relationships? They’re as good as a one-night stand. If this is you, your niceness overlooks the many red flags presented to you, often from the first meeting, through passing statements made by him that express his lack of self-respect or show his poor aptitude.

Know this: a male is structured to place his burdens and karma upon the one he lays with. When a woman fails to ask the right questions and heed the warning signs, she sets herself up for heartache and misery. 

This is a prime example of self-sabotage, bypassing intuition and moving in the flesh. It’s a byproduct of an aspect of perfectionism which I call ‘Incompletion’. When we rush into relationships it’s often due to hopes of feeling complete through the presence of a counterpart. I go into more depth regarding this in another post.

For some women, all it takes is that one male burdened with trauma and violence, low self-esteem, and shame to break her. And yet, from that breaking, something deeper can emerge: the kind of strength that fairy tales quietly whisper about.

Even in the throes of repeated heartache, there’s an opportunity to awaken to recognize patterns, to pause, and to rewrite your own narrative. It’s in these quiet moments of disappointment that a deeper story can begin to form. This is where fairytales become more than children’s stories but mirrors for our healing. 

Cinderella as a Symbol of Inner Strength

Take Cinderella, for instance. Her tale is not just about a prince, but about the inner transformation required to step into a new life…

It’s often said not to believe in fairy tales. However, stories like the Walt Disney fable Cinderella are telling if you pay attention. True love, if found, is never without personal trials or tribulations to build you up.

Look at Cindy. She began life with a well to do father who adored and provided for her, and presumably a mother who nurtured her. Life was roses until one solemn day, her mother passed, leaving behind a grieving husband who then was ensnared by a soulless woman with the goal of taking from the legacy left to his daughter.

As the story goes, Cindy’s stepmother sucks the life out of her father until he passes away, then makes every attempt to do the same to poor Cinderella. But Cindy was strong. She took her proverbial beatings from her stepmother and stepsisters, day after day, yet she never gave up on herself, nor her dream to find true love one day and be whisked away by her prince to live happily ever after, presuming that she was even looking for a prince until the day she crashed into one.

The Quiet Power of Humility and Imagination

Humility was her saving grace.

Without it, her heart may have turned as cold as her stepmother’s and stepsisters’. Her long-suffering and forgiving nature preserved her hope for overcoming her situation.

To “sit” — the act of putting something into a particular placement, a kind of stalemate.

They thought they could sit her in the attic to rot in her loneliness. However, quite the contrary. Her oneness with nature and her fondness for animals helped stretch her imagination long enough for a miracle, a fairy godmother, to step in and set her up for the event of her life.

The Ball and Her Moment

Long story short, she finds her way to the ball, where she would meet fate. Out of all the many suitors there to impress him, the Prince, she, Cindy, magnetized him.

How did she do it? 

Standards. She had to leave the ball at a certain time or else. This left him guessing. Not only did she leave early, but she went running and just as the conversation was getting good. She never spoke of her hardships or her living situation. She had fun, said less. The experience alone was enough to keep hope alive. Her sad story didn’t keep her from enjoying herself and making the most of the little she had in the presence of the prince.

She ran off, leaving no information, no traces of where she lived or the life she led, leaving nothing to help him track her down.

She left no breadcrumbs

This left him in suspense. No woman had ever captivated his attention like that, then made zero attempts to lock him down. This was unheard of. All he had was a glass slipper that was made for only her.

The prince met every single woman possible in the village to find the matching slipper. Sounds like the player sowing his royal oats before settling down.

Let’s be clear: Cinderella didn’t play some cat-and-mouse game, looking disengaged. She didn’t bait and switch him like her stepsisters tried. She showed up, decked out, as awe-stricking as they come, ready to live life. She showed up as herself. And that magnetism came from nothing, but self-empowerment built from her pain story that she didn’t allow to live her. She outlived it.

Trust Yourself

I hope this story convinces you to stop thinking you’ve got to be something you’re not to get love, Or from ignoring signs of Mr. and Misses Wrong. Can you stop hiding from yourself and embrace your story? Then create a new one. One of victory.

Will you not betray your God-given intuition that keeps you from settling for Mr. Insecure, Mr. Narc, and Mr. Broken?

Never stop believing in yourself, in your dreams, and in true love. Know that it is inside you. It lives in you. It grows with you.

Study to show thyself approved. Set standards, so you don’t fall for anything or anyone. Make it so that no one but the One can step to you.

It may feel lonely at times because the journey of Self can do that. Yet you’re never alone. The right people come to you at the right time to guide you to your next level. Just like with the help of the fairy Godmother, Cindy was able to be at the right place at the right time in the right attire! Embrace your helpers and welcome them when they show up.

Learn ways to set yourself apart from the stepsisters and Walk Into Your Cinderella Era, download the Scripts e-workbook now.