Another bright left has
been extinguished. Chester Bennington, singer for Linkin Park, passed
away on 20th July 2017. Cause of death – Depression.
We need to start being
more open about mental health. For some reason we keep it a secret as
though we must not speak of an illness that only shows its face in
those final, painful moments.
Why do we keep mental
health hidden? Why do we fear it? Because it cannot be seen? Yet
there are many invisible illnesses that are accepted and spoken about
without the level of Victorian-esque fear that mental health seems to
inspire. It almost feels as though we still live in an age where any
of us may become a spectacle in an asylum.
But mental health has
come so far since those dark days of Bedlam. No longer must we live
in fear that we're going to be a person who is scorned or ridiculed.
No longer are we going to be paraded for the entertainment of others.
Those days are gone. Finished. Over.
Yes, mental health care
is still lacking in so many parts of the world. But there is help.
And there is hope. We may look at social media as a burden yet, in
this day and age, we are only a few key strokes away from asking for
help. No one knows who they're linked to until they ask. No one knows
what the hive mind of the internet can turn up. You don't have to
suffer alone any more.
You don't have to
suffer.
You don't have to
suffer.
You don't have to
suffer.
We are all here for one
another, here to support, and to love, and to care. These illnesses,
the ones that drive us to the depths of wanting to end our lives,
don't need to hide in the darkness any more. It's time for them to be
visible. It's time for them to speak their names. It's time for them
to stop pushing people in to the shadows for fear that others will
humiliate them for daring to say, “I don't feel well.”.
You are not alone. And
you are precious. You are loved. You are beautiful. We live in a
world that wants to push us in to those shadows, that wants us to
hate ourselves because we're not “perfect”, that wants us to
disappear because we don't fit into a mould.
Every one of us was
born to be different. We weren't born to all look the same, or act
the same, or think the same. You are amazing just the way you are.
It's time for us to start accepting ourselves as we are and to stop
beating ourselves up because we're different from what the world
expects us to be. You, and your brain, are exactly where you're
supposed to be right now. Time flies and, two years from now, all
could be different. Hang on. Keep breathing. Keep living. Don't give
up.
Don't ever give up.
Don't ever give up.
Don't ever give up.
You are worth so much
more than deciding to step away now. Your thoughts, your ideas, your
beauty, everything that makes you you
is destined to be here right now. You are destined to be here.
There's a reason for you living in this moment and it's not to step
away. You are not a burden. You are not worthless. You are not
useless. You are not nothing.
You are someone.
You
are a relative, a lover, a friend, a colleague, an internet chat
friend, a social media commentator, a video creator, a blogger, an
artist, a friendly face on a dark day. To someone, somewhere, you are
something. You may not
know it right now, but you are.
You
are more than the darkness.
