When I was younger, my friends and I idolized Britney Spears. To us, she was perfect. I had pictures of her scattered all over my bedroom walls. Her songs were always playing on my CD player and she was dating my boyfriend, Justin Timberlake. She was on the covers of magazines everywhere as a young sex symbol and a girl who seemed to have it all.
I remember reading magazines and seeing her slowly go downhill in society’s eyes. She was no longer portrayed as a celebrity sensation but as a cry for help. She was becoming a mess, she no longer cared what she looked like and she seemed to have lost control of her life. She even shaved her head. Her meltdown was one of the biggest shocks to me, I didn’t understand how life could become that stressful and painful.
It wasn’t until recently I realized how sometimes in life, you stress out and you lose control. Comparing the stress of a college student to a famous celebrity is nowhere near the same, but the overwhelming feeling is relatable somehow. I understand her meltdown, I feel like I am about to have a break down as well. No, I’m not going to shave my head but I do feel like I need a nap.
Being a senior in college, I have a million things running through my mind. Besides the stress of finals and the pressure from my parents and teachers to do well, I also have to make sure to do my best with the clubs and internships that I am a part of. My To-Do list seems to be never ending and the amount of time spent worrying about things has become relentless.
There’s times where I just want to ignore my responsibilities and run home to my bed and curl up in a ball. The amount of times I sat in class day dreaming about having my life together is uncountable and I’m pretty sure my mom is going to block my number if I call her one more time crying and complaining about how I have no idea what I want to do with my life. Waking up in the morning is becoming harder and my go-to outfit has become sweatpants and my boyfriend's sweatshirt.
As silly as it seems, I always think to myself that it could be worse… I mean I could be the one who was plastered on magazine covers shaving my head. Then I think about how she came back from her meltdown stronger than ever. She fought through the battles and the pressures she was feeling. And if she did it, so can I.
She is the prime example of no matter how rock bottom you think you have hit, you can always come back from it.
