By now, it seems everyone knows that Demi Lovato overdosed and is currently in rehab. Many people think that she’s no longer a positive influence, but I disagree. She overdosed, but she’s always been open and honest with us about her struggles and she relapsed. It happens; someone could be clean for 20 years and then relapse. It’s almost inevitable to relapse more than once during recovery. Recovery is an ongoing thing every day for the rest of your life. I know personally because I’ve relapsed from self-harm after being in recovery for 2 years and it took me at least a year to even get to the point of wanting to stop cutting. I was cutting almost every day but her strength and her music helped me get to that point of, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” It was hard, especially in the beginning, but I was able to stop. Then, 2 years later something happened and I relapsed. I’m not sure how long I continued cutting after that but at this point, it has been a long time since the last time I even had the urge to self-harm and I credit Demi and her music with most of that.
I still consider Demi Lovato a positive influence because she is open about her mental health and has been for a long time. She is open about her sexuality, lets everyone into her life and thinks of her fans as her friends. If a fan comes up to her and asks for a picture or an autograph, she doesn’t turn them away. She does meet and greets before all of her shows, even with her anxiety. She shows us it’s okay to be ourselves and that it’s okay to need help. Demi helped me come out and be open about my sexuality, come forward and get help with my own mental health struggles and has helped me stay clean for as long as I have, even now while she’s in rehab. I came out to my mom because of her. Most of my family is very religious and not accepting of the LGBTQ+ community so I was scared to come out to my mom. Demi being open about her own sexuality is what made me not so scared to tell my mom or the rest of my family. It sounds crazy, but, it’s because of Demi that I’m still here today. Without her music, I have no idea where I’d be right now and I know many fans feel the same way. She’s the reason many of us can get through the day sometimes.
When asked, one friend told me Demi is his motivation to be the best version of himself. A Twitter friend, @SimplyLoveDemi, said that Demi has helped her accept herself and even helped her come out to everyone. She helps others because Demi helped her. Another one of my friends said that Demi has helped her with body positivity and helped her take away the stigma around mental illnesses.
Even while in treatment, Demi still influences our daily choices and our daily thoughts. My thoughts about myself are more positive now than they were a year ago and part of that is because of her telling us all the time that the way you think matters and that if you change your thoughts, then you change your life.