6 Ways We're All Bridget Jones

Attention, Bridget Jones fans: We are v. excited that a new installment of our favorite awkward heroine is in the works! Helen Fielding has written another chapter in the life of the quirky Brit, and the book is scheduled for an autumn 2013 release.

For the uninitiated, Bridget Jones Diary — the tale of a desperate yet endearing everywoman and her clumsy and often hilarious pursuit of true love (or at least a good date) — debuted in 1996 and quickly became and international bestseller and cultural phenom. Two movies followed, with Renee Zellweger as our quirky protagonist, and single 30-something women everywhere found a fumbling heroine they could finally relate too. It was in Bridget’s constantly adorable flaws — namely her fixation on her body image, awkward approach to dating and penchant for wallowing in her misery (who can forget her onscreen rendition of 'All By Myself'?) that we wach saw a bit of ourselves. We are all Bridget Jones to some degree — whether that makes us uncomfortable or not. Here are a few examples: 

1. We go for the sexy d-bag. It’s hard to not want to be with the hottest guy around. And when our crush actually shows an interest, the tempation to follow through can be irresistible — despite the guy's less questionable reputation and aloof behavior. Bridget's obsession with Daniel Cleaver (played by Hugh Grant in the film) is perfect example of our tendence to torture ourselves with Mr. Wrong.

2. We fall down. Both literally and metaphorically, we all fall from grace. Whether it’s the result of a bottle of vodka or a heartbreak that is so devastating that our knees give out — or, in Bridget's case, a very unfortunate bunny costume misunderstanding — we’ve all found ourselves on the ground staring at the ceiling.

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3. We’re dumb when it comes to love. Seriously. Who hasn’t had love stare them in the face and fail to realize it until it was too late? Sometimes it’s just not easy to pick up on even obvious hints — like the fact that Mark Darcy was in love with Bridget the whole time. Then again, real-life Mark Darcys don't always look like a young Colin Firth.

4. We tend to think that nice guys are boring. Who knows where it started, but women just love the bad boys. we all want the man who is challenging and infuriating at first; the one who probably sees us as nothing special at the beginning but yet we seem to win over right before the closing credits. Isn’t that the dream after all? To be loved for even your craziness? In the words of Mark Darcy, "I like you just as you are." It’s only after years of heartbreak  that we finally understand that the "nice" guys aren’t so boring after all. They actually give a damn, unlike the bad eggs.

5. We obsess about our weight. It’s a painful truth, but many of us fixate on having a perfect (read: thin) body, often to our own pain and detriment. Bridget Jones would freak out if her weight surpassed 130 pounds — a perfectly non-fat size 6, in most cases.

6. We make scenes. Okay, so maybe most of us don’t stage the epic scenes that Bridget Jones is famous for, but maybe that’s just because we’ve learned from her mistakes because we’ve seen the movie too many times. Or because we're not fictional characters. Either way, we're all a little guilty of making the occasional dramatic outburst that we regret in the morning.

What are your favorite Bridget Jones moments?