He has been "out of it" for a year now, depressed, hopeless...
By "goodbye songs", he means that him and her (gf/wife) are still going through the fight of trying to bring closure to their relationship and/or get him healthy again, and he knows full well she should just move on, but "She just can't let him go" - She loves him and knows the truth, that there is still hope and beauty in the world, that he is too blind to see right now, because he is still focused on the sadness in his life (past).
He's sorry for putting her through this and the things that he does (/doesn't do) that unintentionally hurt her, and he tries to avoid her because of it... It hurts him and brings him even further into depression when he hurts her. He feels that he's going down and doesn't want to drag her down with him, he wants her to leave him, to give up on him. He's hurt enough in his life and just wants the pain to end.
Nothing seems to be going right for him and the smallest of things can bring the worst pain to him, and with it comes all the feelings he's been pushing down (repressing). He slit his wrists and waited to die, because no matter what he tried (painting to relieve tension and express himself) he couldn't bring himself back to the way he was... Nothing was working.
It's hopeless.
So, from my perspective, of dealing with depression for most of my life, that's what this song is about.
Speaking from a semi-third person viewpoint...
He has been "out of it" for a year now, depressed, hopeless...
By "goodbye songs", he means that him and her (gf/wife) are still going through the fight of trying to bring closure to their relationship and/or get him healthy again, and he knows full well she should just move on, but "She just can't let him go" - She loves him and knows the truth, that there is still hope and beauty in the world, that he is too blind to see right now, because he is still focused on the sadness in his life (past).
He's sorry for putting her through this and the things that he does (/doesn't do) that unintentionally hurt her, and he tries to avoid her because of it... It hurts him and brings him even further into depression when he hurts her. He feels that he's going down and doesn't want to drag her down with him, he wants her to leave him, to give up on him. He's hurt enough in his life and just wants the pain to end.
Nothing seems to be going right for him and the smallest of things can bring the worst pain to him, and with it comes all the feelings he's been pushing down (repressing). He slit his wrists and waited to die, because no matter what he tried (painting to relieve tension and express himself) he couldn't bring himself back to the way he was... Nothing was working.
It's hopeless.
So, from my perspective, of dealing with depression for most of my life, that's what this song is about.