Today I read about the passing of Chester Bennington. You know him as the screaming vocalist of Linkin Park. To me, he was more than just that. He was the voice that helped me through my difficult and frustrating teenage years. He gave me a voice to release the pain and hurt that life dealt me.

The helplessness, the meaningless, the bullied, the sidelined and the overlooked. He helped me deal with it all by singing (screaming) it out in Linkin Park’s songs. He connected me to others in the world who felt exactly the same as I did. He made me realised I wasn’t alone in the pain and suffering I went through. He made me realise I can rise above it all.

The fact that he took his own life is a huge shock. He took his own life on the day of Chris Cornell‘s birthday. They seem pretty close and Cornell has taken his own life back in May 2016 and sources have reported that Bennington was never the same after the passing of Cornell.

I guess when things finally overwhelmed you and you can’t take it anymore, you will choose the “no way out” and end it all.

I’m gonna talk a little bit about depression because it is real. It is not just a state where you feel sad and cry. It is a state where you are trapped viciously by a chain of thorns dragging you down with no way out. Everything seems hopeless and you are helpless to do anything to help yourself. You find no happiness in EVERYTHING you do.

You do not see yourself doing any better at all. Some people turn to drugs or alcohol or whatever vices they turn to numb themselves hoping they will escape from the pain. However, the pain just returns and the cycle of depression repeats. Until one fine day, you decide that enough is enough and you end your life to break the cycle.

Chester Bennington helped me through the low points in my life but it kills me to read that he chose to go it alone and end his life… People might think that he’s rich and successful and it is stupid that he wants to end his life. I would like to say that things are not always that simple. Life’s happiness is not measured by how rich or successful you are…

So should you ever feel like life is never going to turn around for you. Call a helpline. In Singapore, there is Samaritans of Singapore. I have never called them for help before because Chester Bennington and Linkin Park has always been that pillar of support that guided me.

Lastly, a song to bid him farewell…