Britney Spears ticked off a portion of the internet last week when she posted a picture of a pair of $6,000 Louboutins that she’s never worn in the four years that she’s owned them. Maybe that partially fueled her choice to post advice that all of her followers can make use of, even if they can’t afford ridiculously expensive snakeskin heels:

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A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears) on Aug 20, 2019 at 6:46pm PDT

Here’s the caption:

Living in LA is such a trip !!! It can be lonely at times. You never know who to trust, and some people can be fake. I have a very small circle of friends, and simply do what makes me happy !!! It breaks my heart to see the comments on my posts sometimes …. so I simply choose not to look anymore … let the clever haters do what they do best …. hate!!!

My social media feeds are full of 1) pictures of people’s children, 2) nerdy fandom-specific memes, 3) news stories about how the world is coming apart at the seams, 4) photos of quotations from people that are meant to uplift and inspire. I’ve seen umpteen versions of this idea, but at the moment, it’s a good reminder. Maybe a lot of her followers needed to see it, too. The question is, of course, what’s led Britney to share this? Is she referring to someone specific in her own life who didn’t show up when she achieved something important? Someone who’s likely to see this?

In ET‘s coverage, they shared a picture of a comment from Britney’s boyfriend so we can probably cross him off the list:

Regardless of whether this is meant to be a dig at a particular individual or a general comment on her life at the moment, Britney is posting this to remind herself, along with her fans, to pay attention to whom she lets in her life. ET has a rundown of her year so far, which has been chaotic: In May, Britney’s conservatorship was up for review. We learned that Jamie Spears filed paperwork to extend it beyond California to include Florida, Hawaii, and Louisiana. Britney also told the court that her father had her committed to a mental health facility against her will and authorized that she be given medication without her consent. Britney requested that her conservatorship be relaxed a bit to give her more freedom. Her mother, Lynne, was also in court and asked that she be informed of changes to the conservatorship. Additionally, doctors were trying to adjust Britney’s medication(s) so that her health would hopefully improve.

Months before all this, late last year, Jamie Spears was hospitalized with what we later learned was a ruptured colon, and in January, Britney canceled her Vegas show to be with him. I felt mildly anxious typing all of that (and that’s only a fraction of the recent stories about Britney that we’ve covered). I can’t imagine what it’s been like for Britney to actually live all of it.

In some good news, earlier this month, she posted photos on Instagram of her sons, Sean, 13, and Jayden, 12, during a trip to Disneyland:

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Great time at Disneyland today …. but I don’t remember ever getting that wet on splash mountain ?!!! Geeez …. anyhow my boys are older now, so they don’t like their picture taken ever… so I was thrilled today when they said SURE !!!!! Such a great place !!!!!

A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears) on Aug 4, 2019 at 10:40pm PDT

There were reports that Kevin Federline wouldn’t let Britney spend more time with their sons until her health started to improve, so it’s possible that that’s happened. I hope for her sake that that’s the case. Then again, it’s possible that Kevin was along for the trip. Kevin is (rightly) looking out for Sean and Jaden, and he also seems to be looking out for Britney, too.

Like I said, I really hope that Britney’s health has begun to improve. I’d be happy to read more stories about her Target runs. Figuring out which combinations of medications will properly manage one (or more) mental illnesses without causing terrible side effects is like playing a game of Jenga, except all of the blocks are made of incredibly thin glass, and the table that they are stacked on is constantly spinning and rocking back and forth, too.

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Wow…. so I found my cowboy hat today and found these cute dresses in my closet !!! So much fun to play !!!! ?

A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears) on Aug 14, 2019 at 5:42pm PDT

photos credit: Avalon.red, Backgrid and via Instagram