I always thought it was scripted..

but now that I think about it, maybe the scenarios on Jerry Springer really DO happen in real life..

It's just sad. I feel true compassion for people who f*ck up their lives with simple things. Maybe they have low self-esteem, maybe they're lonely. Maybe they just don't know how to cope with the cards they've been dealt. Either way, it's so sad to see people circling the drain, and just trying to hold on.

I'd like to think that I wasn't right there with them, and that I work hard to avoid that downward spiral. One day I woke up and realized that life doesn't just happen to me, and I had to take responsibility for where I was in my life, and stop blaming everyone/everything else. MY choices and MY decisions were the cause of my unhappiness. While it sounds very humbling, realizing that your choices shape your life is also very empowering.

Hell, maybe I'm not all empowered and "on the right track". Maybe there are folks out there writing blogs about me. But I'm on a journey.

If you're willing to get f*cked over and over and over, disregard this call to action, but I just want to encourage all of us to stop and THINK about the consequences of our actions. THINK about whether or not what you're doing could potentially F you in the A. Please. PLEASE.

I am thinking about this because I see these patterns happening to people in my life. People I love and care about. I hate that feeling when you hear that something awful, yet totally preventable happens. I just shake my head and I used to feel angry, but now my eyes just fill up with tears, and I worry, and try to trust that things will be okay. But it's getting harder to have that faith.

Luckily, other people's bad decisions rarely hurt me or interfere with my life. And even though I'm disappointed, I would rather feel sad than be indifferent. I would rather be angry than apathetic. At least when you're sad or angry, you maintain some faith in humanity.

I love the people in my life, be they friends or family. I want the best for them, but that's not enough. THEY need to want the best for them, too. I just want them to do right by themselves, no matter how inconvenient or uncomfortable that may be. It is a lot easier to blame life for happening to you, but the consequences and pain last exponentially longer.

If you want the best for yourself, get out of denial. It hurts, but the pain of accepting your mistakes is not any worse than lying to yourself. And once you accept them, they go away. You're human and you f*ck up, accept it and forgive yourself for your mistakes. Forgiveness is freedom to make mistakes, just try to learn from them. It's a beautiful thing.

So one last note about Jerry Springer... We all know it's fake, but those things REALLY do happen to people. And we like to sit on the couch and look down our noses at them, but really, they've just made some really bad decisions. And when it happens to someone you love, hopefully you'll feel compassion for them, because they're just lost children, looking for someone to love them and fill their void, and that's the saddest thing I can think of.