Books to Blogs #15
Book: 3000 Unique Questions About Me
Question #1925: “Did you ever dream of marrying a fictional character? Which one?”
Looking back, I realize I had plenty of fairy tale romances running through my head as a kid. I think most of us dreamed of marrying a fictional character at some point. And not just from fairy tales.
Those dreams came from television shows and movies, too.
They showed up during Saturday morning TV, sitting a little too close to the screen.
They showed up in movie rentals you watched on repeat because you only had two days before returning them.
And sometimes… they showed up right there on your bedroom wall.
I remember having a Superman poster hanging on mine.
Not because I thought I’d actually marry a man who could fly — but because he represented something: strength, protection, and the idea that someone could show up when it mattered most.
For others, that role was filled by Wonder Woman.
More than likely, everyone had their own version.
For some, it was a Prince Charming type.
For others, it was a superhero — someone powerful, steady, brave, or quietly dependable.
For others still, it was a character who felt kind, funny, or emotionally safe.
Not the exact character everyone else loved.
Not the polished version from the screen.
But a personal one — shaped by imagination, emotion, and the early desire to be seen, chosen, protected, or understood.
The Fantasy Wasn’t Just About Romance
What’s interesting is that these fictional crushes weren’t really about dating or marriage in the way adults think about those things.
Kids don’t dream about mortgages, shared calendars, or whose turn it is to do the dishes.
They dream about being rescued from the boring parts of life.
They dream about adventure with someone who gets them.
They dream about having a companion who won’t let them down — who shows up at just the right moment and sees them as special when the rest of the world doesn’t seem to notice.
That’s what made these characters so powerful.
They filled gaps we didn’t even know we had.
They showed us possibilities we hadn’t yet considered.
And they gave us a template — however fantastical — for what connection might look like.
The Templates We Carry Into Adulthood
It’s funny now, when I talk with clients about the types of relationships they once wanted, to hear phrases like “the fairy tale,” “the soap opera,” or “the movie romance.”
Because those phrases tell me everything.
They tell me someone grew up believing love should look a certain way — dramatic, sweeping, scripted. That there should be grand gestures, perfectly timed reconciliations, or a moment when everything clicks into place and stays that way forever.
And when real life doesn’t match that?
When love turns out to be quieter, messier, or more ordinary than what we saw on screen?
That’s often where disappointment creeps in.
Not because the relationship is bad —
but because it doesn’t match the mental movie we’ve been replaying since childhood.
Before We Knew Better
Before we had language for emotional intelligence…
Before we understood relationships…
Before we knew how complicated love could be…
There was simply the idea that someone would be there.
Someone who wouldn’t change their mind.
Someone who wouldn’t disappoint us the way real people sometimes do.
Someone whose entire existence, at least in our imagination, revolved around being exactly what we needed.
It’s no wonder so many of us carried those blueprints forward, expecting real people to follow fictional storylines.
At some point, many of us realized that love and connection don’t have to look shiny, traditional, or heroic to be real.
But those early fictional crushes — whether they came from books, TV shows, movies, or posters on the wall — weren’t silly.
They were revealing.
What Those Characters Really Represented
Those characters often reflected:
- What strength looked like to us
- What safety or loyalty felt like
- The kind of partner or ally we imagined
- The qualities we admired long before we could name them
Beneath it all, those characters pointed to something deeper.
We weren’t really dreaming about the character.
We were dreaming about how we wanted to feel.
The Gap Between Fantasy and Reality
Of course, real relationships don’t work like fiction.
Real people have bad days. They make mistakes. They can’t fly in through the window to save you from eighth-grade math class. They have their own needs, histories, and complications.
Real love doesn’t come with a soundtrack.
There’s no dramatic rain scene where everything resolves in three minutes.
There’s no guarantee someone will always know exactly what to say — or exactly when you need them to say it.
But maybe that’s okay.
Maybe those early fictional characters served their purpose — not by setting impossible standards, but by helping us figure out what mattered. By giving us a safe space to explore feelings we didn’t yet understand. By planting seeds about the kind of connection we hoped to build someday.
The trick is learning to keep the values — loyalty, courage, kindness, humor — while letting go of the expectation that love should look like a movie.
A Moment to Reflect
So I’ll pass the question to you:
- Did you ever dream of marrying a fictional character — from a book, TV show, or movie?
- Did one of them make it onto your wall, notebook, or locker?
- Do the qualities they represented still matter to you today?
- And more importantly: are you still comparing real relationships to fictional ones?
Sometimes these questions aren’t about fantasy at all.
They’re about noticing how early we started forming our ideas of connection.
And sometimes, looking back at those childhood dreams tells us more about who we were — and who we’re still becoming — than we might expect.
Maybe it’s time to write a new script.
One where real love — imperfect, everyday, and beautifully ordinary — finally gets to be the star.
Theresa
Flexible Being
Empowering Your Journey to Healing, Clarity, and Self-Discovery.
Thank you for being here. If you enjoyed this post, there’s plenty more where that came from, everything from soulful healing tips to playful prompts and real conversations about life.
Find me and connect today. I want to learn about your story:
Email: theresa@flexiblebeing.com
Website: www.flexiblebeing.com
Instagram:
@theresamartinezshapiro
@flexiblebeing
Theresa Martinez-Shapiro
Hello! I am Theresa Martinez-Shapiro; Wife to Robert. Founder of Flexible Being. A Master Reiki Therapist, Certified Oracle Guide, Spiritual Mentor/Guide, Intuitive Empath, Coach, and Educator. I am a fur mom to 3 cats and 1 dog – Sonny, Patches, Ryelee, and Winnie. We currently live and practice in Stockton, California. We operate three businesses – Shapiro Holistic Health and Chiropractic, Fusion Health APC, and Synergy Health MSO, where we seek to improve and change the lives of our patients and those we have the privilege of crossing paths with. My healing and mentoring journey began around 5 years old when I discovered that I was put on this planet to help others. I knew I was different, unique, and gifted. I did not see the world the same way everyone else did, and recognized I was meant to do so much more. I began to research, spending a lot of time reading & asking a lot of questions to anyone that wanted to share stories about their life experiences. I am a dreamer and had a unique relationship with the dream world. My very real, vivid & lucid dreams began turning into out-of-body experiences and unexplained occurrences. I began doing my own dream interpretations to look for patterns & a new way of deciphering life. Family members were part of many different religions, so I was educated in Catholicism, Buddhism, Metaphysics, and Native American culture & beliefs. Along the way, I took up multiple mentors that cultivated my growth and expansion of my gifts, allowing me to focus on my potential and purpose. As an adult, coworkers were unloading their life stories, internal secrets, and things that had not been shared or even spoken out loud. I began to share those experiences with my aunt & Reiki Master/Teacher, Carmen. In 2012, Carmen told me, “I think you are ready to walk the path I always knew you were meant to walk”. That saying began my obsessive journey into Reiki, Spirituality, Psychology, Intuition and Psychic gifts, Meditation and Mindfulness, Past Lives, Consciousness, Energy Medicine, Mysteries of the Universe, Moon and Sun cycles, Astrology, Numerology, Oracle Cards, Shamanism, & so much more. My journey has helped me to assist patients, clients, families, and friends discover who they have been, who they are, and who they want to become. I am expanding my reach and educating others by authoring Musings of a Flexible Being, and I look forward to sharing my journey with you. Thank you! Theresa Martinez-Shapiro Flexible Being Website: www.flexiblebeing.com Socials: Facebook: @flexiblebeingonline Instagram:@theresamartinezshapiro Instagram: @flexiblebeing
