I have decided to use ''The Legend'' ( well through my lens ) Whitney Houston as an example of how choice was wrongly used or should i say neglected?
Whitney Houston in my eyes is the greatest female singer ever lived and She was effortlessly brilliant and talented both in singing and in her acting career. In the movie ''The Bodyguard'' she proved to be a genius. That is just one of her films i watch time and time again tirelessly. This woman raised the bar in the music industry and catching up is almost looking impossible. She was simply a genius!
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| Whitney Houston August 1963 - February 2012 |
No matter how we look at it, singing in the church and singing in front of thousand of people is a massive step and the question of acceptance always hangs in the air of whether they are going to love you or not. Struggle for acceptance in such industries is a battle in itself. But being the talented woman that she was she rose to the challenged and she was loved universally. You can't hide talent. In as much as she was coping well in the eyes of her fans and bosses, in her quiet moments i think there would be times she just long for a normal life,you know the kind she was used to. The safe,quiet life of the local church singer which is almost impossible when you become a public figure.
Whitney was described as her own person by her family, She never confided in anyone and just took things in her stride. Imagine all the pressures of the industry she had to cope with, she still never confided in anyone. Surely there must be a solace, a place, or thing where she goes to find peace and tranquillity. Not very long she was reported caught with drugs. It wasn't hard to see that,That became ''the solace'' Now this is bad news. This is when the talent starts to decline. Its pretty obvious that when you mix drugs with anything the end result is an absolute disaster. There is no two ways about it. It will drain you and leave you breathless! This went from bad to worst and she openly confessed to taking drugs. She started showing up in interviews looking buck wild and speech became slurry by the minute. Shows and tours were being cancelled as she wasn't physically up to it. Frequently been caught at airports with drugs and crack! Yes this is bad news, especially for someone with such a m a z i n g talent. To add salt to injury,Bobby Brown whom she fell in love with and got married to was already a drug addict.
Remember this woman, from a church singer to an international singer, thrown into the industry with little or no experience of the big world and somehow she coped in her own way but only to a point. To a point till she found drugs. Under the influence, she would be in another world, a different zone, a place where she is stress free.... her place of solace. This she sought out whenever she needed a friend, the drugs would act like a friend when the going gets tough and a place of consolation. The drugs transformed from a place of solace to a habit and then to an addiction, although in her eyes, she defined her drugs taking as ''a bad habit'' as opposed to an addiction. Now this is where the problem gets real. Refusal to admit that yes she was suffering from a serious problem called addiction. The moment refusal comes in,the problem just gets real and help is almost impossible because you can't help someone who don't want to be helped,neither can you save a drowning cow that claims to be swimming!
Whitney Houston went from bad to worst and this resulted in a career decline. The pressures became too much and she wasn't coping well at all. I am not saying the cause of her death was drugs but it played a great part in it....a very great part.
People are blaming Bobby Brown her ex husband. Fair enough he was a drug addict as well and wasn't a good influence on the singer in no way as he himself has a track record of court cases and endless arrests. They say show me your friends and i'll tell you who you are,fact! Therefore, I am not ruling Bobby Brown out of the picture. He played a part as well because sometimes when people we love tell us to stop, we actually do listen. He could have been a pillar of support but unfortunately he was a weak pillar himself so he can't possibly support anyone else.
However Whitney Houston had a very powerful tool available to her which was CHOICE. The choice was hers to make whether she should take drugs or not and whether she should succumb to the pressures of the media or not. Bear in mind that the singer was few years older than Bobby Brown as well. She could have walked away and look to God for help when things become unbearable. Confide in someone or better still look where she came from so she'll know where she was heading. The choice was hers to make. The choice was in the palm of her hands but was neglected. I am not judging this woman but Whitney didnt have to find a solace in drugs, God was her solace. As she sang in her song ''I look to you''
Whitney Houston - I Look To You.
This is such an inspiring song!
I believe one of the reasons she fell in love with Bobby Brown was because they both shared something in common which was this drugs. When you find someone who does the same stuff as you or love the same things as you, you tend to grow an extra ordinary bond which i believe existed between the pair. I say extra ordinary because their relationship was one that was never understood,justified or accepted by the public, bearing in mind Bobby's past. But personally I think Whitney's decline was solely down to her and she had 100% control over it until she decided that she was going to give up on her self. Shame that was, as she had so many people looking up to her which she was oblivious to.
Her life I would say is a lesson,even in death. A very valuable lesson to all.
Few things to bear in mind:
- You might not know but you have at least one person looking up to you
- Embrace your talent
- Associate yourself with people who pull you upwards
- There is no price for living your life in the fast lane
- Crack kills
- Choice is a powerful tool - Use it
- Don't succumb to the pressures of this world
- God is our ultimate solace
- When the going gets tough, Look To God
I know everyone is fighting some kind of battle, but it's how we deal with it that really matters. Fight with the last bone in your body and come out more than a conqueror. When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long.
Have a Victorious Week everyone.
Till then....
xoxo
