demons don’t define me

I wake up every morning with a war inside my head,

Fightin’ conversations that I never even said.

Demons at the doorway, tryna tell me I’m alone,

So I learned to build a light inside a heart that felt like home.

I’ve been carryin’ some weight that nobody ever sees,

Still hold the door open, still say “thank you” and “please.”

Still check up on my people when I’m barely checkin’ me,

‘Cause I know what it feels like when you’re drowning silently.

I could’ve turned cold from the nights that I survived,

Could’ve blamed the whole world for the hurt I kept inside.

But every scar reminded me exactly who to be—

If I can’t stop all the pain, I can give somebody peace.

I fight demons in my head, but I still choose love,

Rain falling on me, still I’m looking up.

Got a heart full of bruises, but it still beats kind,

You would never know the battles going on inside.

Yeah, I bend, I break, sometimes I lose my way,

But I’ll still give you sunshine on my darkest day.

‘Cause this world already hurts, I won’t add to the pain,

If I gotta walk through fire, I’ll come out with grace.

I know what it’s like to feel invisible in rooms,

To laugh with everybody while your mind predicts your doom.

To say, “I’m good,” automatically, knowing that you’re not,

Then give somebody everything when you ain’t got a lot.

Maybe kindness is rebellion when your heart has been at war,

Maybe strength is staying gentle when you’ve been hurt before.

Maybe healing isn’t waking up and suddenly you’re fine,

Maybe healing’s choosing goodness one decision at a time.

So I compliment a stranger, tell my people that they matter,

Try to leave a little hope wherever everything feels shattered.

I’m not perfect, I get angry, I get tired, I get low,

But pain doesn’t get permission to decide the love I show.

Nobody sees the midnight fights,

Nobody hears those thoughts get loud,

But every morning that I rise,

I know I made it somehow.

And if you’re fighting too,

You don’t gotta prove a thing.

A soft heart in a hard world

Is its own kind of strength.

I fight demons in my head, but I still choose love,

Rain falling on me, still I’m looking up.

Got a heart full of bruises, but it still beats kind,

There’s a whole damn war going on behind these eyes.

But I’ll smile at the lonely, give a hand when I can,

‘Cause the battles that I’ve fought made me understand:

You never know what somebody’s surviving every day,

So even when I’m hurting…

I’ll choose kindness anyway.

Yeah…

My mind might be a battlefield,

But my heart doesn’t have to be.

I survived without becoming cruel.

And maybe…

That’s the strongest part of me.