RIP Gary Speed

Welsh football manager and former player Gary Speed was found hanging in his home in Cheshire and it rose the question on Twitter; "why do successful people kill themselves?" This question is just stupid to me, you could be the most successful person in the world but at the end of the day depression can strike anyone, there was obviously a lot more to Gary Speed than success and perhaps we'll never know why he felt the need to take his own life but believing he shouldn't have killed himself because he was successful is ridiculous. Speaking from experience suicide is one of the worst things a person can deal with. For the person who has committed suicide it's over for them, for everyone they left behind it just gets worse, you feel helpless and stupid and constantly regret not being able to help them whether you knew they were suffering or not.

The thought of suicide has come through my mind a few times but I realise now how stupid it would have been had I taken my life, I contemplated suicide for the most moronic reasons because I was a teenager and having one of those stupid "the world hates me" moments and truly believed the world would be better off without me, unfortunately some people actually go through with suicide and think nothing of it but the world isn't a better place without them, it's worse for the people you've left behind and maybe that's not a good enough reason to get some people to stay but do you really want to put everyone you love through that hell when what you're feeling could be temporary?

I guess some people just don't get help with their depression or don't even realise they have it, true this isn't always the reason as to why people kill themselves but it played a huge role in why my friend killed himself and he was never professionally diagnosed despite it being clear to his closest friends and us all trying to encourage him to get help, he really just saw no other way out but ending it himself and although he's not suffering anymore it still hurts to know that he just lost his way and thought ending it was the best thing to do.

Whatever made Gary Speed feel the need to take his own life I'm glad he's in a better place now and my heart goes out to his family and friends, there's no denying that he was loved by millions.