I am a princess. Really? Because for most of my life, I sure haven’t felt like it.

Rose Festival coronation in 2008.

I remember the first time I saw “Mulan,” eyes locked on the screen, watching as she learned to climb tall structures with weights attached for her arms, flying over snow covered hills on horseback, standing up to the evil Hun chief, Shan Yu.

She was a princess, by Disney terms, but she was a warrior, a fighter. She wasn’t weak or timid, but strong and bold.

Maybe this is due to the fact that I spent my teenage years with a man as my central parent, but I’ve always had a hard time embracing “girliness.” Not the, everything I wear has to be pink, sparkly and covered with butterflies, type of girly. I’m talking about the girly that says, “I deserve to dress nice, look nice and be treated with respect because I’m a girl who was beautifully made.”

For years, I’d throw my hair up in a pony tail, shy away from shopping for clothes and if you asked me what kind of makeup I used, I would have looked at you with my eyebrows raised and said, “Certainly not that black pointy stick that you shove in your eyelashes!”

I wanted to be seen as strong, and I just had a hard time embracing the beauty of womanhood with the aspect of being strong, tough and tenacious.

But recently, I watched a video that made me realize that being a daughter of God atomically makes me a princess – that I really am deserving of taking good care of myself, of treating myself right, of being strong and gentle, all at the same time.

So I am a princess, and if you’re a girl reading this, you’re a princess, too. And if you’re a guy (sorry I don’t quite have that perspective), you’re a prince. Together, we are brothers and sisters who are part of a royal family, simply because we’re His.