This past week, I got to meet my all-time idol, Jamie Tworkowski.

He is the founder of the organization “To Write Love on Her Arms”, which is about bringing awareness of depression, self-harm, addiction, and suicide prevention.

I was so excited to meet him. I was really nervous before the interview;  it was like meeting a celebrity crush, and I am not going to lie, he is pretty cute too. I got there early to prepare what I was going to say, and hopefully keep my palms from sweating too much in the process.

Jamie was nothing like what I imagined. He spoke to me as if we were old friends and joked about current events and how much he thinks North Dakota sucks. It was enlightening to see that an ordinary guy made such a huge difference.

I had read up on Jamie’s organization many years ago and was super pumped to continue learning more. Hearing the story of how “To Write Love on Her Arms” was founded from the founder himself was an honor. He spoke on how each of our stories is important and deserves to continue being written.

I first became interested in “To Write Love on Her Arms” after the suicide of my good friend. The hometown I came from was pretty high on the teenage suicide rate and was getting higher every month.

Like many people, I turned to music to deal with all the tough issues in my life, and this was one of them. I discovered that “To Write Love on Her Arms” felt the same about music, so I was instantly drawn to them and forming a connection.

Meeting Jamie was a dream come true. It made me see that I am the hero of my own story. It inspired my next tattoo, “I am the hero of this story.”