Wake Up, Get Paid, Get Laid, Gatorade

The Run And Go

Hey guys, I don't think I've ever explained how much twenty øne piløts means to me.

Because that's a whole lot, and the story I have to go with it is sad.

But I feel like I owe it to Tyler and Josh to tell this story, because they save lives. I know I'm not the only one who they've helped and I know this isn't a unique story, but it's mine nonetheless.

For all of my entire life up to the point I started listening to their music I sincerely thought there was something wrong with me. I would go without food for days sometimes and always felt absolutely horrible about myself. People at school would constantly harass me and I just hated myself.

I thought I was useless and I thought I was alone.

But I know I'm not, because they taught me I'm not.

I'm not alone.

I remember first listening to Guns For Hands.

It was late at night and I looked up the lyrics as soon as I heard it.

And I remember just having this realization of you aren't alone and there is nothing wrong with you.

And I was just ecstatic.

It was the best feeling I've ever had, because there was a place where I belonged. The clique.

And I personally can connect to all of their music and I can find other people with the same problems and I belong here.

Everything was okay again.

But most of all I remember first hearing Goner.

That was the most surreal experience of my entire life.

At that time I was struggling with severe depression and I would often not be able to sleep at night and sleep during the day because of the thoughts I got. I would lie to everyone and tell them I was just busy that week or I slept in a little. I wasn't taking care of myself and I felt horrible.

I remember hearing the first lyrics and breaking down.

I'm a goner

Somebody catch my breath

I felt suffocated and I was slowly slipping away.

But I wasn't the only one.

Maybe you all didn't sleep for days at a time after weeks of insomnia.

Maybe you didn't stop eating for days at a time.

But I know very well that all of you have or will feel suffocated and lost at a time in your life.

And then it clicked.

All of us, the clique, are all here and we are all alive.

And we are alive because all of us are here.

We are alive because of this music that connects us.

We all come from different families, different countries, and different backgrounds. We all are different ages, different ages and different backgrounds.

But we are connected by our depression.

We all feel suffocated.

But together.

Together we feel alive.

Together we are alive.

And it's all been created by a basketball player that needed and outlet for his dark thoughts and a drummer that taught himself to play out of pure rebellion against his strict family.

And we definitely wouldn't have it any other way.

So dear Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun.

I wanna be known

By you

Because though I'm weak

And beaten down

I'll slip away

Into the sound

You can't meet all of us personally, but we all have met you. You have touched our lives.

The ghost of you

Is close to me

I'm inside out

You're underneath

This song can be interpreted many different ways, but for me, this song is about music.

Music for me is a coping mechanism for otherwise undefeated anxiety and depression.

My only coping mechanism.

I am not a goner.

I don't feel suffocated.

So long as you, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun,

Don't let me be.

Don't let me be gone.

But I know you won't.

So one day, although I may never meet you

I wanna be known

By you

And to everyone else reading this, do you want to know why I write?

Power to the local dreamer.

Through them I discovered another coping mechanism and a passion.

One day I want to write professionally, and if ever I somehow in my wildest dreams manage to write a book, this is what the inside cover will say:

Dedicated to Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun
Power to the local dreamer
|-/

These people have saved me and so many others.

They are true heroes, my heroes.

And from Tyler, Josh, me, and everyone else who has ever felt like they couldn't breathe at two A.M. in their room and the breath returned to their lungs because of a song,

Stay alive.

I did, and you are right now, so do that again tomorrow.

|-/