Suicide and suicidal ideation are the foundation of the song, “Skeletons.” Brian tried to end the song on a positive note. This is about NOT giving up.
“Skeletons” was written by Brian Jost in January of 2019 during concerning period of depression that included a lot of suicidal ideation. Thoughts of suicide were not new to Brian, as they had been visiting him for most of his adult life (maybe 20 years?…it’s difficult to know with certainty). Something was different though during the winter of 2018/2019, especially January and February of 2019. To Brian, the possibility of suicide became inevitable. For the first time, he felt and believed that suicide was the one and only way he would die at some point in the future. He had no plan for suicide, however, he began noticing an available means to complete suicide and urges to develop a plan.
Brian plans on writing much more about the song “Skeletons” and about the darkness he experienced during that difficult winter, as well as how he climbed out of that darkness. In fact, he has already written a lot about it, but it is mostly hand-written in notebooks and he has not yet made it a priority to type it into a blog post or elsewhere. Stay tuned for more.
Read or listen to Brian Jost’s memoir: “Grounded by Bipolar Disorder; One Pilot’s Landing” (available in print, e-book/kindle, and audiobook). Click HERE to find the book on Amazon and Audible.