A common trend on my Odyssey articles is my acknowledgement of my own personal disorders. With an incapability of ever being in full control of my anxiety or depression, I often result to my talent of music and performance. In anticipation of the new cast album for The Great Comet, cycling through Hamilton about 100+ times or trying to remove the 100 plus pages of Dan Forrest's Jubilate Deo out of my head, I have been listening to a variety of different artists. One particular group helped me in the roughest of times -- British rock group Bastille.

I first heard about Bastille through Pompeii, probably their most recognizable song off their first album Bad Blood. Pompeii blew up in popularity and was overplayed a million times on the bus ride to my summer camp, but it grew on me. Sadly, like the evolution of musical taste, you do get sick of it after a while. I never ever realized I would become a Bastille fan until the beginning of freshman year where I met my best friend from it.

I was still trying to figure myself out and decided to help with costumes for A Midsummer's Night Dream (while I was not on the costume crew, I merely just stumbled into the dressing room trying to see if I could help) and I noticed this girl with a Bastille tour shirt and we talked for a bit about the band. I had to make up most of it because I honestly only knew Pompeii, but anything to make first impressions. We talked a bit and I managed to get her number.

In the coming weeks that followed, I blasted both Bad Blood and their newest album Wild World trying to impress her, but I got addicted to the music quickly. On a Michael Bublé infested phone, more and more Bastille was added. On one occasion, I jokingly flirted that I'd take her to a Bastille concert and she jokingly agreed to it as soon as we found out our semester two schedules. Little did I know that this little infatuation would fade and a true friendship would bond out of it. My crush on this girl faded and we gradually bonded more through our similarity in majors, love for student government, and ultimately Bastille.

One evening mid-December, she was going over a rough piece of drama and I spent the entire evening calming her down. It was then we decided to divert to talking about our schedules and then it clicked. We both paused and exclaimed, "BASTILLE!!!" Now I had completely forgot about this promise and we both immediately got the tickets.

Keep in mind this was December and for me, everything was going great. I met Josh Groban, saw Great Comet again, finally got my hands on Hamilton and Hello, Dolly! tickets, and got time with family and friends over Winter Break. What could go wrong? Literally everything started to crumble as soon as I got back from break.

Immediately following break, I royally screwed up everything I could get my hands on. Friendships? Check. Relationships? Check. Elections? Yep. Grades? Somehow no, but close. It got to a point where my entire days were spent treading lightly as to not trigger an extreme anxiety attack (or suffer through two to three a day). It got to a point where I had to divert the mind every other minute and wear a mask to hide my depression. It got to a point where I was ready to give in and suddenly vanish. But I kept listening to a few key songs to get me through: Groban's Dust and Ashes from Great Comet and Send Them Off! by Bastille

Fighting this depression for weeks on weeks trying to get over my issues, I listened to those two songs (as well as other music) to battle the sadness. Send Them Off had a big impact in my recovery and I just prayed they performed it at the concert.

March 30th: Bastille at the Barclays Center. I wasn't expecting to be okay enough to attend the concert. I was so depressed that I was afraid I'd need to back out to spend more time in therapy. But I persevered and went to the concert. And boy, did that night lighten the mood so much better. And what was the opening song of the concert? Well, the one song I wanted to hear: Send Them Off! and the whole night was just spectacular for what it was.

While it is still taking a while to recover, the depression isn't as bad as it once has been. Had it not been for this band, I would have still been in my extremely depressed state. Had it not been for Send Them Off, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the music that night. Finally, had it not been for this band, I wouldn't have met my best friend. For that, I gladly thank Bastille for helping me with my "wild world" on the road to recovery and owe them my life.