GIA..
An insurgence of a young kid, the feeling of isolation, the loss of sense of self-identity, and the overdependence to drugs are the main issues that the young supermodel, Gia has related to us. Even at an early age, she has experienced how it is to be left alone when her father and mother separated after how many years of quarreling and fighting over some matters that they couldn’t really resolve. Her mother was the one whom she had shared most of her life. It was she who has been with her in the growing years of her life and when her mom left her, it made a huge impact. She suffered from loneliness and the feeling of isolation and perhaps, this is one of the reasons why she wants things to be spontaneous so that she cannot think of the loneliness that is rooted deep within her heart. She was clearly hurt and she felt abandoned. She had issues with people leaving her and she cannot deal with them properly. It affected the sociological aspect of her life. She was more of like a rebel. She did things her own way and she doesn’t want people interfering with her life. She showed people that she was tough and that she doesn’t care. She was different from other kids and she was very unpredictable. The only thing that she was certain of was her being a lesbian. At the beginning, she had a good relationship with Linda, one of the models whom at their first encounter, she already had an eye on. Her sudden rise to fame had opened the gates of her fortune. She had all the money she can have and yet, she wasn’t happy. She was alone in New York with no one to confide with. During the first years in her stay there, she had her manager, Wilhelmina Cooper who stood as her guide and comforter. But when Wilhelmina died, it was another loss that she has to face. She has difficulty coping with the stresses in her life. She had no one to confide with. Her mother was not always around, she had misunderstandings with Linda and she felt alone. She needed so much love and affection but she felt that no one was there to give it to her. She has no support system. Because of those, she resorted to drugs. One shot led to another and then to anther and eventually without noticing it, she was already hooked with it. It affected her biological aspect. In this case, her skin started to change; there were manifestations that she was really using drugs and her body showed signs of it. It affected her dealings with the people around her. She easily gets angry and she was being possessive with Linda and Linda started to dislike her for that. She cares for Gia but she couldn’t get her to quit using drugs. She shouted at photographers, make-up artists and hairdressers and people cannot figure out what was really happening to her. She was not in shape and the different aspects of her life had deviated.
However, there was still someone who was willing to help her. It was her good guy friend. He helped Gia and encouraged her to go for rehabilitation. With the therapy going on, she somehow overcame her sufferings and struggles. It gave her time to think about the life she has lived. With the support that she was getting from the people in the rehabilitation center and from the people whom she valued most, she was determined that she can finally overcome her dependency on drugs. Although there are still some loopholes, she gave room for improvement in her life. Her mom was already on her side at that time and she was ready to face life again. However, it was later learned that she acquired AIDS from a contaminated needle. Just when she was about to go on with her life, everything was torn apart and she was back to where she started. The disease began to scatter and she couldn’t do much about it. She died at a young age of 26 but she will always be remembered.
Gia’s life was a lesson for all of us. It became an eye-opener for me. It led me to the truth that happiness doesn’t depend on one’s fame, success and fortune. Happiness is all about having love and affection. It is all about being accepted for who you are. Gia somehow lived in a world of fantasy, thinking that she can have everything and that she is invincible. But she was wrong for that matter.
Each one of us has different needs and those needs should be given importance. The fulfillment or the suppression of that need can either make or break our lives. It can lead us to the improvement of ourselves but it can also lead us to the destruction of our lives. Our environment greatly affects the way we view our lives and it shapes the way we think, the way we act and the way we deal with other people. It influences our daily lives even if we don’t notice it. We are faced with so many stressors and we should learn how to adapt with it so that we will not be governed by that stress. We should learn to overcome and learn to ask for others help if it is for our own good. Life has so many challenges for us but we should not resort to vices. They are not the solution to our problems. Escape is never the way out. We have to deal with it right then and there. Things may not go so easy but I know that there are people who are willing to help me rise from every fall. It is a just a matter of humbling down ourselves and accepting that we have faced defeat but surely, life never ends there.
