As I sat here listening to Chester Bennington of Linkin Park sing, "Shadow of the day", the words, "Sometimes solutions aren't so simple, sometimes goodbye is the only way", are eerily true with Chester taking his own life some time ago.
Linkin Park are one of my favorite bands and especially Chester's voice. Such power within and he used it to awesome effect. I went and saw Linkin Park tear apart Rod Laver arena only a few days after I was out of hospital armed with a PTSD, depression and anxiety diagnoses. My life had fallen apart and I had to rebuild it.
I knew that going to see Linkin Park that night was going to one almighty challenge as my anxiety was at an all time high and the thought of being within crowds and loud noise was anxiety evoking to a high degree but music has always resonated with me and especially Linkin Parks so I snapped up a single ticket for $99 which was front row, to the side of the stage.
That night I watched Chester perform massive. He was extraordinary and in between reasonably sized anxiety attacks i was able to enjoy the genius that Chester was.
That night to me was more than watching a live act, it was more than listening to, at that time, my fave band, it was about proving to myself that I was able to recover from this life changing event that had happened to me.
With 3000+ suicides in Australia last year, our ADF members, both old and new suiciding at an alarming rate and near 30 members of Victoria Police suiciding since 2000, enough is enough.
Even though you may think you are a burden to those close to you, you are not;
Even though you may think you will never see the light again, you will;
Even though you may think that no one understands where you are at, we do;
Even though you may think the world will be better off without you, it won't;
Even though you may think you cannot recover, you can.
It all starts off with speaking out, seeking help. It is not weak to put your hand up to say that you are struggling. It is perfectly okay to not be okay. Get to the GP, get to the psych, ring your EAP, speak to your mates, speak to your family, speak to anyone. I do not care who you speak to, just speak.
No one is alone in their mental health journeys, suicide is not the answer, never is and never will be. You can recover, you can live and you can see the light again.
So yes I agree with Sometimes solutions aren't so simple, but I cannot agree with sometimes goodbye is the only way.
Thank you Chester, you helped me more than you will ever know. RIP.
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