Demi Lovato Celebrates 4 Years of Sobriety: 11 Inspirational Life Lessons She's Shared to Date

Singer has become one of the most influential people regarding addiction and mental health

By Kendall Fisher Mar 15, 2016 9:57 PMTags
Demi Lovato, 2016 Grammy Awards, BeautyJordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Demi Lovato rang in four years of sobriety on Tuesday, taking to Twitter to announce the news.

"This last year I experienced so much life and too much death... But I made it through... Sober," she wrote alongside the hashtags, "#4Years #GodsWill."

But she hasn't simply made it through; rather, Lovato has used her struggles and fame as a platform for raising awareness around mental illness and eating disorders as well as helping people all over the world accept themselves for who they are.

So in honor of her special day today, we are looking back on 11 inspirational life lessons Lovato has given us over the last few years. Check them out below:

Instagram

1. On loving your body as it is: "Regardless of what society tells you these days...You don't have to have a thigh gap to be beautiful," she said posing in a bikini last February. "It is possible to love your body the way it is. #fitness #health #acceptance #selflove."

2. On empowering other women: "Women empowerment is using your voice to help the voiceless women be heard. Women empowerment is taking action now, not when it's convenient," she tweeted in February 2016. "Women empowerment is leading other women to make actual changes in our society. Women empowerment is tweeting at 2:30 am knowing the consequences of these tweets and not giving a single f--k."

3. On recovering from addiction: "I wish that more people could understand from a point where it's not a choice to have an addiction," Lovato, who spent time in rehab at the age of 18 for "emotional and physical issues," said on the Today show last May. "And with bipolar disorder, it's a chemical imbalance and it's something that you have to figure out your own treatment with your own team and in order to do that, it takes time. And finally, I'm in a great place where I can say that recovery is possible."

4. On getting through tough days: "On the days that are harder, there's this saying called, 'Play the record forward,'" Lovato also said on the Today. "So like, if I ever want to pick up and drink or use, I have to imagine, I have to play it out and imagine, like, 'OK, well, what would happen if I did that?'"

5. On not being afraid to hide your sexuality: "It took so much for me to get a place where I would feel comfortable enough to do [a photo shoot in my underwear]," Lovato told E! News of her Cosmo cover shoot in August 2015. "If anything, it's showing all of my fans who know my story and my journey that I've gone from hating every inch of my body to doing a photo shoot in my underwear in front of the entire world. That's more of statement to me than just looking sexy on a magazine cover."

6. On seeking confidence from within yourself: "Not letting anyone tell you that you're not beautiful or not worthy of living a happy and healthy," the singer told us in August 2014 during her #SeeTheRealMe campaign. "The campaign is about letting people see who you really are. So trying to find the confidence in yourself and having the people around you be that confidence."

Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images

7. On dressing the way that makes you feel sexy: "I think what's more important is showing women there's nothing wrong with embracing their bodies and sexuality," she said of her Cosmo cover and choice to wear more revealing clothing. "It's like, what's wrong with being confident enough to wear this?"

8. On being totally honest with yourself and those around you: "When you're having a rough day, be like, 'I don't want to talk about this, but I need to get it off my chest,'" she told Teen Vogue in 2013. "If you have a secret—secrets make you sick."

9. On staying strong through hard times: "Soy fuerte. Soy luchadora. Asi que no me subestimen," she tweeted after nude photos of her and Wilmer Valderrama were leaked in 2014. It translates to: "I am strong. I'm a fighter. Don't underestimate me."

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

10. On celebrities taking action to prevent addiction: "It's time people start really taking action on changing what we're actually singing/rapping about these days because you never know if you could be glamorizing a certain drug to a first-time user or an  alcoholic who could possibly end up dead because they end up suffering from the same deadly disease so many have already died from," she said in an open letter on Twitter in February 2014. 'This stuff is not something to mess with. Why risk it? Addiction IS a disease."

11. On liberating yourself from what you think are flaws: "Once I started feeling better about myself, I felt better about showing more skin," she told Allure magazine in January of wearing more revealing ensembles. "I have insecurities about my arms, so to wear a tank top on stage is extremely liberating for me, and uncomfortable sometimes. It's also a statement, like, 'Hey, watch out. You're no longer getting the insecure Demi that you've been getting for the past couple of years. I mean business now.'"