Four Introductions

To Entertain….

My Sissy, my nephew, Ernie, and me at a Twins game.

My name is Brittany, sometimes Britta or Britta Louise, and only Britt if you are drunk and we’re friends. I am a dog mom, an auntie, a best friend, and an obsessive, vain, nerdy, clumsy human. I tend to have a very addictive personality. Ex: I cannot just sit and do a puzzle over a long period of time, I must complete it in one day, or apparently the world will explode and chaos will reign supreme. Oh yeah, I’m also a tad histrionic.

I truly enjoy snark. I live and breathe sarcasm. Probably 80% of what comes out of my mouth is sarcastic. It is a gift and a curse, because I don’t always realize when I should turn it off. I also enjoy living life with as few responsibilities as possible. I often describe myself as a 10 year old trapped in a 25 year old’s body. This is why I get along so well with my nephews. It is also why my best friend and I get along so well, because we both have the personality of a 10 year old, with the ability to act grown up only when absolutely necessary.

To end this, I would like to share few of my favorite quips about myself:

1. My best friend is a Mormon, but I don’t judge her for it, because she doesn’t judge me for being a godless heathen.
2. I dream of being a literary editor because it involves two of my favorite things: reading and telling people they are wrong.
3. I am my favorite punchline, as well as the rest of my family’s, apparently…

To Teach…

Copyright goes to The Oatmeal. This was a cartoon created in the wake of Robin Williams’ tragic suicide.

My name is Brittany, and let me begin this with the declaration that I was never meant to be a teacher. I’m too impatient. However, I think there are a few things I would like the world to learn, so I will make the attempt here.

Bitterness is so easy to become enveloped in. The world can be such a cruel and unforgiving place, and its very easy to allow yourself to be swallowed up by the injustice of it all. My world was never a pretty one, I was born into a life of rage and violence. And if I’m honest, it hasn’t gotten much better as time has gone on, but I have learned to look at the world with wonder instead of bitterness.

How you shape your world is based on choices. You can make the choice to let go of your anger, and you can make the choice to seek help if you are unable to do it on your own. I was lucky enough to have a wonderful friend who would always listen without judging. She taught me how to ask for help, and how to look at my situation in a different way. She told me I had a choice to make, I could either live my life bitter and like the world owed me something, or I could try to make myself happy. I still have moments of anger, and hurt-filled resentment, but I thank the universe everyday for that friend of mine. If it weren’t for that wonderful woman, telling me to live my life for myself, I would not be where I am now.

Surround yourself with kind people who care about you and make you laugh. Find something you are passionate about and put your heart and soul into it. Think of others and how you affect them. And most of all think of your own happiness. Because you deserve happiness.

“You’ll need coffee shops and sunsets and road trips. Airplanes and passports and new songs and old songs, but people more than anything else. You will need other people and will need to be that other person to someone else, a living, breathing, screaming invitation to believe better things.” —Jamie Tworkowski

Creating Awareness…

My first dog, Sadie Anne and me in 2007.

My name is Brittany Goettlich and I have a voice. I use this voice to advocate for issues I believe in. There is a saying, “if you don’t stand for anything, you fall for everything.” There are many issues I am passionate about, but the one that I like to make others aware of is animal welfare and the truth about PETA.

Those not very involved with animal welfare may equate the cause with PETA, and they would be incredibly wrong to do so. PETA is an organization for attention seekers, who actually do more harm than good. They turn the animal welfare fight into a punch line, and when it comes down to it, they kill more animals than they save.

In 2010 the state of Virginia inspected the shelter at PETA’s Virgina headquarters. After reviewing their records for the previous two months, it was discovered that out of 290 animals brought into the shelter 245 were euthanized within 24 hours of PETA taking custody of them. Upon further inspection of those records, they showed an adoption rate of only 14% in 2004 dropping to and astonishing 0.7% in 2009. Out of 2317 cats and dogs put into PETA’s shelter at the Virginia headquarters, 99.3% were euthanized. These facts and many other disturbing ones are all detailed here. There is also an article in the Huffington Post detailing how in 2012 out of 1,110 cats taken in to the shelter at PETA, 1,045 were euthanized and only 7 were adopted out, while 602 out of 733 dogs entering the shelter were also euthanized and only 12 where adopted out.

If you want to help animals, don’t support PETA. Instead look into your local shelters and rescue agencies. You can donate food, toys, collars, beds, and money directly to them, and if you don’t have the money to spend, then volunteer your time. Rescues are always looking for people to help out at adoption events, with social media, and by fostering animals. For more information on some Minneapolis rescues and the great work they do, please click here.

To Be Helpful…

Illustration by Lucille Clerc in response to the terrorist attack in Paris on Charlie Hebdo.

Brittany’s Helpful Hints to Survive Being Human:

1. Be yourself and don’t be ashamed of it. Dr. Seuss said it best, “Be yourself, those who mind don’t matter and those who matter won’t mind.”
2. Stand up for what you believe in. You have a voice, use it. Don’t back down from something you truly believe in, and make sure you are well educated in the subject.
3. Listen. It is important to be well rounded in this world, so make sure that you befriend those from all walks of life. Listen to their beliefs and their views on the world. Discuss and debate with them. You will only be made stronger by doing this. Listen closely and with intent when someone is talking to you. They want to be heard just as much as you do, so give them the same courtesy that you ask for.
4. Find your happiness. Joy can change your entire view of the world. It can bring beauty where before there was only devastation. It is important for your own mental, emotional, and physical health to be happy. And most importantly, you deserve happiness, no matter what anyone else tells you.
5. Be brave. Step outside of your comfort zone every once in awhile. In fact, do it every day! You will be a better person for it. The world is full of amazing things, so go for it!
6. Love. Give your heart to those around you completely and without reservation. Tell them you love them and what they mean to you in no uncertain terms. You never know what tomorrow will bring, so live without any regrets.
7. Don’t be afraid to start over. Just because something ends, doesn’t mean that something new and possibly better cannot begin. Dreams die, relationships end, and plans fall apart. But there is always something new to begin. Life is not over unless you are dead.