What Britney Should Read

What Britney Should Read

By Prin Dumas

It's not your fault. Life happens.

The above statement should provide comfort to anyone who has tolerated life's little nuances, foibles, and flaws. Life is not perfect. The sooner you learn that, the better you become at dealing with that simple truth.

In the media, however, it has become a "trend" to be a mess, or for lack of a better word, an idiot. It has become popular to lose control, and it has become "interesting" to observe this loss of control, because it is intriguing to the average person. At what point in human history, did making blatantly wrong decisions become fascinating?

When we are young, we all have moments that we wish to not broadcast. It is not so much regret as wisdom sinking in through the years. It's great to conclude with hindsight that you were indeed wrong to steal your friend's boyfriend, cheat on a test, or barely make it home driving tipsy. Stupid decisions have been made by young people throughout the span of human history. So, we can't criticize a wrong decision or two, can we? We all make immature mistakes that fall under the umbrella of normal, but then, there are crazy mistakes.

Stupid and irresponsible mistakes-we all know what they are, no need to itemize them, but when we find ourselves making one, we suddenly convince ourselves that "it's no big deal." Most of the time this is called being young. Sometimes, it's called needing help.

Step one-Learn to ask for help.

There is nothing wrong with asking for professional help. There is nothing wrong with finding out you need medication. There is nothing wrong with stopping life to fix it in turn. Precious plans are meant to be foiled by reality. When you start to lose things and people that you worked hard to earn, respect highly positioned on this list, you need to know how to just stop. Love yourself enough to know when you can't handle something on your own. Don't get so arrogant that you can't bring yourself to accept someone else's helping hand. Go to a parent, friend, doctor, clinic, and/or trusted individual who can lead you into the right path.

Step two-Learn to embody admirable qualities.

Let me tell you a thing or two about being a role model-we should all aim to be one. Why are celebrities held to a different standard? Why are they held to a different stringency for prudence than say, the grammar school teacher who has to make sure she doesn't curse in front of her first grade six-year olds? We should all be aware that it would be likely for poor Miss Jones to get fired if she did so, and yet a famous person can do far worse and influence far more young minds and lives. No one should uphold themselves or others to a standard that expects perfection. Everyone, however, has the right to strive for improvement. No one should be paying you millions of dollars to make a fool out of yourself. There are plenty of Americans who do drugs, get pregnant, and have difficult hardships to overcome on far smaller budgets! As a society, we need to realize that granting attention to such individuals only perpetuates these hardships for future generations. Celebrated irresponsibility is now the hard-to-clean confetti on the party of life.

Step three-Get a grip on reality

What is your worst-case scenario? Imagine it. How far away are you really from reaching that low bottom state? It is important to maintain a sense of reality in order to prevent the worst. Layers-one problem stacked over another-in any life, famous or ordinary, require a giant fork and knife of strength, motivation, support, and initiative. It will take years to resolve something that could have taken a few hours or days or weeks.

Why wait?

You have a bright head on your shoulders and are hoping to accomplish great things in life. You may not always know what these great accomplishments may be, but you have goals. You have dreams, but life is also full of disappointments, but that doesn't grant anyone the right to shrivel. You pick yourself up, try harder, fix your mistakes, and come back stronger. And should that last sentence require more than the desirable amount of time to complete, dedicate yourself to living well. Then, come back and share yourself with the rest of humanity.