before I start my entire explanation, I just want to point out the immense beauty this song holds and how incredibly talented twenty one pilots (aka tyler and josh) are
anyways, it wasn't until recently when I really started reading deeply into these lyrics, but I found that right now in my current situation I can relate to this all too well. so here's my interpretation and what I get from it.
"scared of my own image"=he/I am afraid of myself, or what I see in the mirror or what I think or do. I'm scared of who I've become or who I've left behind as I've grown older, and , I'm genuinely scared of myself.
"scared of my own immaturity, scared of my own ceiling"=I'm frightened by the thought of being so scared of things all the time, and being afraid of common things is often associated with being immature (ex. oh he's afraid of his own shadow), and Tyler elaborates on that by saying he's scared of his own ceiling. meaning its an ordinary everyday thing in his life, yet he has found something in it that gives him fear. and that to me means that nearly everything scares him/me. (also being afraid of his own immaturity could mean he's afraid of showing his true self, or he's just afraid of his characteristics that others may see as flaws)
"scared ill die of uncertainty"=with all of the fear, we become uncertain of what it is that we are truly afraid of. also I am an incredibly indecisive person, and I can not make decisions on my own, so uncertainty is extremely life altering for me. some of this uncertainty could be stemming from doubt that he/I have within ourselves. or when one becomes so terrified of everything and we begin to question our mental state, everything becomes unclear, or "uncertain", and that begins to frighten us too.
"fear might be the death of me"=being so afraid of everyone and everything I began to develop extreme anxiety. and in some cases, like my own, it can cause someone to be house ridden, hospitalized, put on medications, etc. so with all of these restrictions that are caused from this fear, you are practically killing yourself//your happiness, as the fear becomes more intense"(like the saying worried myself to death)
"fear leads to anxiety, don't know what's inside of me"=this part like I mentioned above with the anxiety, how all of these fears and self doubt, anxiety occurs, and depending on the severity you often become very frightened with yourself and your thoughts(creating a cycle, as if I could begin the verse again because I'm afraid of myself and afraid of everything the anxiety is doing to me and my thoughts etc.) the lyrics " don't know what's inside of me" portray this sense of hopelessness and confusion one feels after dealing with all of the said feelings above. these especially stick out to me because when asked to describe how I feel or what I think(usually during an anxiety attack) I don't know what's going on. what I'm thinking or saying or doing, or what it is that is causing the fear. and after a while of experiencing anxiety, you begin to question what's wrong with you and what it is inside of you that could be making you feel this horrible.
"don't forget about me(2x)"=for me, I am currently going through a breakup, and my boyfriend was the only one I felt safe to go to with these problems mentioned above, and the only one I felt understood them because he dealt with similar problems of his own. so to me, this part is me saying don't forget about me. but from a non relationship standpoint I think this could be interpreted as Tyler talking to his old self or his thoughts he thinks to be 'sane', or someone in his life that might have helped him through his problems.
"even when I doubt you, I'm no good without you"=for me, I often pushed away my boyfriend(subconsciously thinking this was best for him) in fear of myself and my thoughts, so to me that was my doubt, but in the end over all the fear and doubt ultimately the relationship was the thing that kept me sane and happy. as for the non relationship view, this could be one thinking of his/her self when they aren't experiencing these fears and realizing that they often doubt themselves, but they are who they are and they can change that. or it could be them speaking to someone that helps them, and although the doubt their advice, or support, or push them away, they need them, because they help.
"temperature is dropping(2x)"=to me this could be interpreted in many different ways, for me it is my motivation disappearing(motivation to get better). but it could also be seen in a lot of different ways.
"I'm not sure if I can see this ever stopping, shaking hands with the dark parts of my thoughts"=to me this deals with not only my anxiety but also my other disorders: depression, and OCD.(so any other disorder the listener might be experiencing) and how nothing seems to get better, and I am so used to feeling this way that I have become numb and I don't care to fix it or to get better, and I almost begin to welcome these thoughts because they're expected.
"you are all that I've got"= this part again for me reminds me of my boyfriend, and how I need them to stay because, they help keep the thoughts away. but most would see this as the other person to help them, or even their old self still hiding behind all of the problems.
"gnawing on the bishops, claw away at the system"=I interpret this as nervous habits I have acquired of the years of dealing with my anxiety. but this could also be someone questioning authority, trying to escape his anxiety or other disorder, or questioning their religion(I think Tyler was writing about his religion)
"repeating simple phrases, someone holy insisted"= for me his is me saying things like "take deep breathes" "think of other things" "it'll all get better someday", that others tell me in attempt to help me, even though they're meaningless. going back to the religion theory, he could be writing about how he says the thing he is supposed to say, because his religion tells him to.
"want the marks he made on my skin to mean something to me again"=personally I associate these lyrics with self harm, and wanting to see the scars as inspiration to keep going or to stay clean. however, if this section is referring to religion, he could be just meaning he wants to find meaning and purpose in himself again. Tyler has a tattoo, and he has mentioned before it has something to do with his religion, and the tattoo are three lines that wrap around his arm, so maybe he is saying he is losing and questioning his religion and he wants to find it or believe it again.
"hope you haven't left without me(2x)"=ties back to the person mentioned throughout the song, whether it be someone who helps you, or your old self and old thoughts, or religion. as if throughout the entire song, he was trying to make sense of it all, and he is realizing, no matter the fear and doubt he truly does need them and he hopes he hasn't lost them.
before I start my entire explanation, I just want to point out the immense beauty this song holds and how incredibly talented twenty one pilots (aka tyler and josh) are anyways, it wasn't until recently when I really started reading deeply into these lyrics, but I found that right now in my current situation I can relate to this all too well. so here's my interpretation and what I get from it. "scared of my own image"=he/I am afraid of myself, or what I see in the mirror or what I think or do. I'm scared of who I've become or who I've left behind as I've grown older, and , I'm genuinely scared of myself. "scared of my own immaturity, scared of my own ceiling"=I'm frightened by the thought of being so scared of things all the time, and being afraid of common things is often associated with being immature (ex. oh he's afraid of his own shadow), and Tyler elaborates on that by saying he's scared of his own ceiling. meaning its an ordinary everyday thing in his life, yet he has found something in it that gives him fear. and that to me means that nearly everything scares him/me. (also being afraid of his own immaturity could mean he's afraid of showing his true self, or he's just afraid of his characteristics that others may see as flaws) "scared ill die of uncertainty"=with all of the fear, we become uncertain of what it is that we are truly afraid of. also I am an incredibly indecisive person, and I can not make decisions on my own, so uncertainty is extremely life altering for me. some of this uncertainty could be stemming from doubt that he/I have within ourselves. or when one becomes so terrified of everything and we begin to question our mental state, everything becomes unclear, or "uncertain", and that begins to frighten us too. "fear might be the death of me"=being so afraid of everyone and everything I began to develop extreme anxiety. and in some cases, like my own, it can cause someone to be house ridden, hospitalized, put on medications, etc. so with all of these restrictions that are caused from this fear, you are practically killing yourself//your happiness, as the fear becomes more intense"(like the saying worried myself to death) "fear leads to anxiety, don't know what's inside of me"=this part like I mentioned above with the anxiety, how all of these fears and self doubt, anxiety occurs, and depending on the severity you often become very frightened with yourself and your thoughts(creating a cycle, as if I could begin the verse again because I'm afraid of myself and afraid of everything the anxiety is doing to me and my thoughts etc.) the lyrics " don't know what's inside of me" portray this sense of hopelessness and confusion one feels after dealing with all of the said feelings above. these especially stick out to me because when asked to describe how I feel or what I think(usually during an anxiety attack) I don't know what's going on. what I'm thinking or saying or doing, or what it is that is causing the fear. and after a while of experiencing anxiety, you begin to question what's wrong with you and what it is inside of you that could be making you feel this horrible. "don't forget about me(2x)"=for me, I am currently going through a breakup, and my boyfriend was the only one I felt safe to go to with these problems mentioned above, and the only one I felt understood them because he dealt with similar problems of his own. so to me, this part is me saying don't forget about me. but from a non relationship standpoint I think this could be interpreted as Tyler talking to his old self or his thoughts he thinks to be 'sane', or someone in his life that might have helped him through his problems. "even when I doubt you, I'm no good without you"=for me, I often pushed away my boyfriend(subconsciously thinking this was best for him) in fear of myself and my thoughts, so to me that was my doubt, but in the end over all the fear and doubt ultimately the relationship was the thing that kept me sane and happy. as for the non relationship view, this could be one thinking of his/her self when they aren't experiencing these fears and realizing that they often doubt themselves, but they are who they are and they can change that. or it could be them speaking to someone that helps them, and although the doubt their advice, or support, or push them away, they need them, because they help. "temperature is dropping(2x)"=to me this could be interpreted in many different ways, for me it is my motivation disappearing(motivation to get better). but it could also be seen in a lot of different ways. "I'm not sure if I can see this ever stopping, shaking hands with the dark parts of my thoughts"=to me this deals with not only my anxiety but also my other disorders: depression, and OCD.(so any other disorder the listener might be experiencing) and how nothing seems to get better, and I am so used to feeling this way that I have become numb and I don't care to fix it or to get better, and I almost begin to welcome these thoughts because they're expected. "you are all that I've got"= this part again for me reminds me of my boyfriend, and how I need them to stay because, they help keep the thoughts away. but most would see this as the other person to help them, or even their old self still hiding behind all of the problems. "gnawing on the bishops, claw away at the system"=I interpret this as nervous habits I have acquired of the years of dealing with my anxiety. but this could also be someone questioning authority, trying to escape his anxiety or other disorder, or questioning their religion(I think Tyler was writing about his religion) "repeating simple phrases, someone holy insisted"= for me his is me saying things like "take deep breathes" "think of other things" "it'll all get better someday", that others tell me in attempt to help me, even though they're meaningless. going back to the religion theory, he could be writing about how he says the thing he is supposed to say, because his religion tells him to. "want the marks he made on my skin to mean something to me again"=personally I associate these lyrics with self harm, and wanting to see the scars as inspiration to keep going or to stay clean. however, if this section is referring to religion, he could be just meaning he wants to find meaning and purpose in himself again. Tyler has a tattoo, and he has mentioned before it has something to do with his religion, and the tattoo are three lines that wrap around his arm, so maybe he is saying he is losing and questioning his religion and he wants to find it or believe it again. "hope you haven't left without me(2x)"=ties back to the person mentioned throughout the song, whether it be someone who helps you, or your old self and old thoughts, or religion. as if throughout the entire song, he was trying to make sense of it all, and he is realizing, no matter the fear and doubt he truly does need them and he hopes he hasn't lost them.