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This is, sadly, not a picture of me and Charlie Sheen. But I am just as gnarly, I promise you.

I’m part of Team Charlie Sheen because I’m also tired of pretending that I’m not a total bitchin’ rock star from Mars. Oh, and I have tiger blood.

Ok, let me start over because I really do have a point here.

The other day, I tweeted that I was part of Team Sheen, and the responses were…mixed to say the least. Some people who I consider to be friends were a bit upset with me. I also got some “hell yeah!” tweets from followers. I noticed that after I tweeted that, I lost 5 - 10 followers (which may or may not be connected to the actual tweet, followers come and go all the time, especially bots). But undoubtedly, at least one person probably read that tweet and unfollowed because they disagree.

Interesting.

It’s probably good to lose those followers, because they likely aren’t going to like what I say in the coming years, both here on After Graduation and with my upcoming zombie blogger project. Let me make it clear that I don’t necessarily agree with Charlie Sheen on everything or want to emulate his lifestyle. But really, I fully, 100% support the movement that you should stop pretending to be something you aren’t and start living a life full of WIN.

A few points:

1) I don’t support illegal drug use, but I believe that at this point, Charlie Sheen is clean. I could buy it that he’s going through a manic episode, but just because you’re manic doesn’t mean you’re not right. You’re just more excitable and passionate about the things you believe. Also, not every manic “crashes” into a state of depression like the experts are saying he will. I know this from personal experience. Every person is different. Whether or not he’s manic or bi-polar is irrelevant to me. 

Take-Home Lesson: BE PASSIONATE! When you love something, you don’t have to go on talk shows and news programs to rant about it, but it is OK to be super passionate and go at something you believe full-force, even if other people don’t agree with it. It’s in the US Declaration of Independence: We all have the right to the pursuit of happiness.

2) He doesn’t sound crazy to me. I think that half of what he says is him trying to be funny, but people are so skiddish that they take it as “he’s crazy.” The man can’t seem to joke around about ANYTHING. I have a similar sense of humor, and I know those looks all too well - you’re just trying to be humorous and people think you’re being serious. I actually love listening to him give interviews because he has a way with words, almost lyrical. As a writer, I appreciate a clever phrase.

Take-Home Lesson: To quote the joker, “Why so serious?” Just because you’re doing important work doesn’t mean that you can’t do something with laughter in your heart. I’m an extremely responsible person who works hard, but I fully believe that we need to be light-hearted no matter what the situation. Life’s too short.

3) A lot of people said that Sheen is acting like an entitled prick. Maybe? I don’t know - what I get from it is a sense of, “I’m entitled to take the money I earn and live the life I want to live, even if it isn’t your brand of normal.” I must be entitled too. The fact of the matter is that Charlie Sheen is getting paid so much money because he brings in money for the network. If you worked for someone and because of your involvement, they made billions of dollars, wouldn’t you be entitled to a nice cut of that? I do believe that he earned that money and should be allowed to do whatever he wants with it. Furthermore, he isn’t the one who shut down the production of the show. He wants to fulfill his contract.

Take-Home Lesson: You are entitled to the money you earn, which is not also directly corresponding to the difficulty of the work you do. It has to do with how much money the work you do will make for the people who are paying you. So, smart work is as important as hard work. Furthermore, if you want to be entitled to your money, you need to uphold your end of a promise/contract/agreement.

4) I love the concept of “winning.” Charlie Sheen keeps referencing the fact that he’s finally winning. In case you didn’t notice, I’ve been saying the same thing about myself since Christmas. Here’s the thing - I don’t think there’s anything wrong with believing in yourself. It isn’t crazy to love your life - or be working toward a life you love. His life is certainly not one that most of us would love, and I think that’s part of the problem. Most of us don’t want two live-in girlfriends and a party lifestyle and whatnot. He does, though, and that’s ok. I think it’s actually inspirational that he’s so vocal about it, because if you don’t believe in yourself, who will?

Take-Home Lesson: Believe in yourself. You can do anything you want to do if you’re willing to be dedicated to making it happen. Not everyone will believe in you, but that’s not necessary to “win” at life. Oh, and just because you win doesn’t mean that someone else has to lose.

So, basically, to summarize, I believe that these are the things that Charlie Sheen is promoting right now:

  • Be passionate about what you want in life, even if others disagree.
  • Try to see the humor in situations.
  • You are entitled to the money you earn.
  • Believe in yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.

I will say that I do think there are times when Sheen behaved badly, and like I said, I’m not saying that anyone should want to emulate his “rock star” life. I just think that his basic messages ring true - and these are things that I’m going to actively continue to promote here at After Graduation even if it means losing some friends or followers.

Note: Disagreeing doesn’t necessarily mean that we can no longer be friends. Of the people who did oppose my tweet the other day, most are still people I consider friends. Friends are allowed to debate without hating one another!


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  1. John Hewitt (Reply) on Thursday 3, 2024

    That’s a great defense.

    My main reason for not being on team Sheen is simple. People were depending on him, including his children, and they have to watch him endanger his life and their futures on a near daily basis. My number one rule in life has always been that you are welcome to be as big a screw up as you want until you breed. Once you bring an innocent soul into the world, it’s time to grow up. He’s got five kids, and I guarantee they aren’t “winning” right now. I hope he settles for being a sober ass instead of a drug dependent screw up, but lets just say my confidence is not high.

    • Allison (Reply) on Thursday 3, 2024

      I’m of two minds when it comes to his kids.

      On one hand, I do believe him when he says that he never had drugs in the house when his kids were there. I think it was completely unjustified that they were taken from him by the police the other night because I don’t think they were in any danger. More than anything, I think that was a matter of mommy being pissed, especially about the goddesses having a hand in raising her sons. But I don’t think it was justified to take them away. I don’t think he put them at risk.

      BUT on the other hand I do agree with you that once you have kids, your party days should be over even when they aren’t there. I’m not saying never have fun again or even never drink again, but if you’re putting your own health at risk, you run the risk of dying and leaving your kids without a dad. Like I said in my post, I honestly because that he’s sober now, so like you, I hope that he stays that way. Even if you’re with your kids only part-time, you’re a full-time parent, in my opinion.

      I will say this, though: I think he has the right to raise his kids the way he wants to raise them as long as they aren’t in danger. A lot of people are appalled at the whole goddesses things right now, but I just think he has a right to teach his kids that it’s ok to live an unconventional life just as much as their mom has a right to teach them what it’s like to have a more normal life. I think that’s a bigger debate for another day, though!

      Seriously, I could talk about Charlie Sheen all night. :-p

  2. Michelle (Reply) on Thursday 3, 2024

    I don’t really care about drugs to be honest - I mean, I usually think it’s kind of sad when people self implode because of addiction, but I don’t have any kind of moral problem with drugs themselves. The thing that gets me is that I’ve seen a lot of people talking about what a badass Sheen is without even caring to mention his history of domestic violence or if mentioning it at all, turning it into a joke. I’ve had friends in abusive situations, I’ve watched it happen, and I don’t think it’s a joke; ergo, a lot of the Sheen stuff annoys me.












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