Who is driving your bus? (A note on Chester Bennigton’s Suicide)
Many of us aspire to become successful in our life. Facing odd and even in pursuit of
reaching that heights, do we forget the struggle, after we being successful and end our
life just for few emotional setbacks?
This is what I felt when I learned that Chester Bennigton, lead singer of the million-
selling alt-rockers Linkin Park committed suicide today (July 21, 2017) morning.
Linkin Park band has sold 70+ million albums worldwide and won 2 Grammy awards.
What made Chester to end his life?
- Depression: Chester Bennigton lost his best friend, bandmate in Linkin Park, Chris Cornell, on 18th May 2017. Chris committed suicide. After this incident Chester was not the same person as he was earlier. He was depressed and addicted to drugs and alcohol.
- Unpleasant past memories: Once in an interview he revealed that he was being sexually abused as a seven-year-old. He said "If I think back to when I was really young, to when I was being molested, to when all these horrible things were going on around me, I shudder."
On the eve of Chris Cornell’s birthday, 20th July 2017, Chester Bennigton committed
suicide by hanging himself as his friend did.
Who is driving your bus? Many people think they are driving their bus. In fact, they
are driving themselves in an auto-pilot mode. They are driven by emotions, memories,
habits etc. Locus of control is not within, rather they are controlled by outside events.
The same was the case with Chester Bennigton.
30% of Business owners suffer from depression: A survey reveals that 30%
business owners are suffering from depression, but many are reluctant to talk about
their struggle for fear of alienating investors and employees.
Depression can be ended: Depression is a learnt behaviour of our mind. When it is
“learnt”, it means it can be unlearned also. As a NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming)
and Wellness coach I have witnessed people coming out of depression and past
memories, and leading a normal life. If Chester would have used any of such NLP
techniques, today he would have been celebrating his friend’s birthday.
Have you used all your strength? : I remember a small story. Father was walking in a
forest with his 6 year old son. Both encounter a big rock in the narrow road. Son asks
curiously, “can I move this rock?” Father answers “Yes you can, if you use all your
strength. After rigorous efforts for half an hour, the kid says “I have used all my
strengths. Now I know I can’t move it a bit also.” Father says “I advised you to use all
your strength. You didn’t ask for my help. Strength lies in interdependence not in
independence”
I wonder, belonging to a big family consisting of a wife, six children, two pygmy goats,
three bantam chickens, a tortoise, six dogs, two cats, and fish, how come Chester
Bennigton, didn’t use all his strengths to come out of his mental setbacks?
At last ask yourself: Are you using all your strength?