Paid In Hours

Verse 1

Alarm hits before the sky wakes up,

Body sore, still standing up.

Coffee tastes like yesterday’s grind,

I leave the house already behind.

Friends stopped calling, plans ran dry,

Fun felt like another life.

I carry fatigue like a second skin,

But I don’t argue with it—I clock in.

Pre-Chorus

No fallback, no hidden skill,

Just grit sharpened by stubborn will.

Every day asks for more than I’ve got,

And every day I give it a shot.

Chorus

I paid in hours, not in luck,

Not in talent, not in love.

I paid with nights I never kept,

With tired hands and too little rest.

It’s brutal, lonely, stripped to the bone,

Walking this road mostly alone.

But there’s pride in knowing I didn’t fold—

I earned every inch with the life I sold.

Verse 2

I watch people live through passing glass,

Laughing like time’s not moving fast.

I nod at ghosts I used to know,

Then shoulder the weight and keep it moving slow.

There’s doubt that creeps in late at night,

Asks if the cost was worth the fight.

I don’t answer it with words or sleep—

I answer it by waking up and repeating.

Pre-Chorus

No mentor, no blueprint handed down,

Just trial and error, ground and ground.

Every failure stayed unpaid,

Every lesson charged in pain.

Chorus

I paid in hours, not in luck,

Not in talent, not in love.

I paid with nights I never kept,

With tired hands and too little rest.

It’s brutal, lonely, stripped to the bone,

Walking this road mostly alone.

But there’s pride in knowing I didn’t fold—

I earned every inch with the life I sold.

Bridge

This kind of work doesn’t cheer you on,

It just asks if you’ll still show up worn.

It doesn’t promise it’ll make you whole,

It just shapes you if you don’t let go.

I didn’t choose this to feel alive—

I chose it to know I tried.

Chorus

I paid in hours, day after day,

Watched youth and comfort drift away.

Turned exhaustion into discipline,

Turned loneliness into a thicker skin.

It’s not pretty, it’s not kind,

It takes more than it gives sometimes.

But when I look at what I’ve become,

I know the reward was earned the hard way.

Outro

I don’t know where this road will end,

If it’ll break me or make me stand.

But if success ever calls my name,

It’ll know I paid in hours to get there.