Rules

I feel the walls are getting closer

Every time they tell me what to do

Lines they draw keep growing bolder

And I’m shrinking in a shrinking room

They say it’s just for my protection

But it feels more like a cage

I’m losing air at each direction

When every step has to be explained

And I know they think they’re helping

But the pressure’s breaking through

I can’t breathe inside these boundaries

When they’re tighter than my own truth

I get claustrophobic from the rules

Like the world is folding in on me

Every “must” and every “don’t”

Steals a little of who I want to be

I’m not trying to start a war

I just need a little room to move

‘Cause I get claustrophobic from the rules

And I’m suffocating in your truth

I try to follow every guideline

But they wrap around me like a net

I’m tangled in the fine print

Of expectations I never met

They say freedom comes with order

But I can’t find it anywhere

I’m running circles at the border

Of a life I’m scared to wear

Maybe I’m a little different

But I just need some open sky

Let me fall and let me figure

How to live a life that’s mine

I get claustrophobic from the rules

Like the world is folding in on me

Every “must” and every “don’t”

Steals a little of who I want to be

I’m not trying to start a war

I just need a little room to move

‘Cause I get claustrophobic from the rules

And I’m suffocating in your truth

Let me break the lock, not the law

Let me breathe without the draw

Of every line you think I need

Just let me be—just let me be

I get claustrophobic from the rules

But I’m finding air beyond the line

I’ll turn the “no” into a “maybe”

And the “never” into “I’ll be fine”

I’m not trying to run away

I just need a place I can choose

‘Cause I get claustrophobic from the rules

But I’m learning how to break through