Singer Amy Winehouse was found dead in her home today. She was 27, not much older than I am. She released only two albums during her career, Frank and Back to Black, both of which were quite popular.
But Amy’s personal life was a mess. She abused drugs and alcohol and had been to rehab for treatment, and this sadly became part of her reputation. Amy also struggled with her mental health, demons that can be extremely difficult to fight. Everyone has to deal with some sort of personal demon, whether it’s a mental health demon or physical health or something else, but how we deal with it makes all the difference. Some people choose to deal with them in destructive ways like Amy did, and that’s sad to see.
I’ve seen tweets about her death saying she had it coming with her drug abuse and calling her death a drug overdose. That may be the case, but the cause of death hasn’t been determined yet. Interestingly, many of the people I know who are already calling the death a drug overdose are those I know to follow life paths that practice nonjudging. So much for that nonjudging thing, eh?
Another trend I’ve noticed on Twitter is asking why people should care that one celebrity died when over ninety noncelebrities died yesterday in Norway? I hate to break it to you, but it’s possible to care about both. The Internet has a short attention span. Twitter’s trending topics show what’s popular right now, as in the last few minutes, for example. Just because people are talking about Amy doesn’t mean they’ve stopped caring about Norway, so don’t treat it as such. Incidentally, some of the same people expressed both of these sentiments. Color me unsurprised.
Finally, a request. If you or someone you love is struggling with drug or alcohol abuse, please help them get the help they need to stop. It’s not an easy process. It’s never an easy process. I don’t have any tips to make it easier. But watching drugs and alcohol turn a loved one into someone unrecognizable is something no one should have to go through.