There was a time, not so long ago, when a great many people would have jumped at the opportunity to switch places with Britney Spears.  That idea is not nearly as popular today, due to the mess that she’s been making of her life.  So where did she go wrong, and how can you avoid the same mistakes?

There is a mistake that is common amongst all demographics, when it comes to leading their lives, but is more prevalent among celebrities, especially if they became celebrities when they were young.  What is that mistake?  The answer is simple… they let other people tell them who they are.

There will always be people around you who want to tell you who you are, either directly or indirectly.  Celebrities have a lot of people in their lives, and those people are even more likely to try to tell the celebrity who they are.  Combine that with becoming a celebrity while you’re young, and thus don’t have a good idea of your own about who you are, and it can be overwhelming.

So, how can you avoid this?  Well, here’s a good start…  The Top 5 Ways To NOT Be Like Britney Spears:

1.  Take Time And Room For Yourself

   It’s important to have some time for yourself, with no one else around.  Your body and your mind both need this time to heal and strengthen.  As a celebrity, and one of the most popular for gossip magazines, Britney has a harder time than most getting time to herself, with the paparazzi always around, as well as fans, people seeking business deals or endorsement, etc.  Non-celebrities can have a hard time finding time for themselves, too, though… friends, family, work, spouse, and especially children can take all the time you have every day if you let them.

   Make sure that you take time for yourself, so that your mind can strengthen and you can evaluate choices that come your way clearly.  This can help you to avoid making bad decisions… like driving 45 MPH with your child on your lap in the driver’s seat.

2. Be Aware Of Others’ Influence

   Other people always have an influence on you.  How much effect that influence has over your actions and choices, however, depends greatly on how aware of it you are.  The influence of others over your choices drops as your awareness of their influence rises.  Perhaps Britney could become more aware of the influence of the people she associates with, and choose NOT to wear a short dress without panties.

3. Take Responsibility For Your Own Choices

   As long as you blame others for your choices, you can’t begin to make the changes that you need in order to avoid repeating the problem in the future.  Taking responsibility for your choices, and your responses to the situations around you, can be difficult.  It means that there’s something less than desirable about you, and it’s YOU that needs to change to fix it.  Britney, if she were to read this, could perhaps take this advice and not blame her mother for associating with the father of her (Britney’s mom) grandchildren.

4. Know Who You Are

   This one is always difficult, when you first approach it.  You have to spend time and attention, focusing on determining what your core priorities are, what your purpose or calling in life may be.  One of my passions happens to be writing, which is why you’re reading this right now.  I suspect that one of Britney’s passions may be music, although that can (rarely) change as life goes on, and she may no longer have music as one of her core priorities.

5. Be Who You Are

   This, of course, is the most difficult of all the advice in this article.  Once you have discovered who you are, and accept responsibility for your own choices, the next step is to give up the personas that you put on for other people and be yourself… all of the time.  Any choice that comes up, you should go with the one that reflects who you are the best.  This may not seem like the best advice, considering what seems to be who some people are, but, as I’ve written before, you are who you choose to be… so make your choice of who you are in some of the time you take for yourself.  Decide who you want to be, and then be that person (and I don’t mean decide to be Lindsay Lohan, I mean choose how you will respond to different circumstances).  You can see that Britney needs help in this area by how wildly her behavior changes.

While it would certainly be pleasant to have Britney’s money, it would not be worth the trade-off with the things going on in her life.  On the other hand, she can always take the steps listed above and change her life, becoming who she chooses to be, instead of letting others define her.  That would bring much needed stability and peace into her life.

So, now you know how to not be like Britney Spears… do you need to stop letting other people tell you who you are, too?