Learning me again

Intro
See… nobody ever really teaches you
how to love yourself
when you’re busy loving everybody else.

Especially when you’re a Black woman.
We’re raised to hold things together,
to nurture,
to forgive,
to stay strong.

But somewhere along the way
I forgot about me.

⸻

Verse 1
I used to measure my worth
by how much I could give.

How patient I could be.
How understanding I could be.
How much of myself
I could stretch
before I broke.

I thought loving you
meant losing pieces of me.

Thought sacrifice
was the same thing as love.

But baby…
it ain’t.

⸻

Chorus
I’m learning how to love me again
Learning where my heart begins
No more shrinking just to fit your plan
I’m finally learning who I am

I gave my love till nothing was left
Forgot that I deserved the best
Now I’m standing strong where I stand
Learning how to love me again

⸻

Verse 2
See the thing about Black women…

We carry generations of strength
in our bones.

Grandmothers who prayed through storms.
Mothers who held families together
with tired hands and quiet tears.

And somewhere inside that strength
we learned to endure.

But endurance ain’t always healing.

Sometimes healing looks like
saying no.
Walking away.
Or simply standing up
for your own heart.

⸻

Chorus
I’m learning how to love me again
Learning where my heart begins
No more shrinking just to fit your plan
I’m finally learning who I am

I gave my love till nothing was left
Forgot that I deserved the best
Now I’m standing strong where I stand
Learning how to love me again

⸻

Bridge
Self-love ain’t loud.

It’s quiet sometimes.

It’s choosing peace
instead of proving a point.

It’s walking away
from what breaks you
even when your heart
still cares.

And realizing…

being a good woman
don’t mean
you gotta suffer.

⸻

Outro
So now
I’m pouring the same love
back into myself.

The patience.
The grace.
The understanding.

All of it.

And for the first time in a long time
I feel whole again.

female, spoken word, emotional, conversational, R&B groove, jazz/neo soul