One day I’ll look back and call this growth Not because it was easy, but because I stayed close To the part of me asking, was I the prize Or just running the race till I lost my eyes The game never crowned us, it just left marks Survivors learning to live with the dark Some fell apart, some learned to bend Some just learned how not to end We started out open, believing in good Trusting the world like a child would No one tells you how fast that breaks When love feels unsafe, when silence shakes We reach for attention, not vanity But proof we still matter, still have gravity So we step into fire, hoping it warms Not knowing we’re walking straight into storms The ones we begin with don’t always remain Not because we failed, but because we changed Pulled apart by noise, by fear, by time By wounds that weren’t ever truly mine This isn’t weakness, this isn’t shame This is what happens when you feel pain And keep breathing anyway And keep showing up anyway There’s damage in staying, there’s damage in leaving There’s damage in silence, there’s damage in speaking But this dance with the dark, as cruel as it seems Teaches you how to rebuild your spine How to stand when the floor feels thin How to listen to what lives within How to hear the words that never came And still not let that define your name As much as it hurts to stay conscious and kind When your nervous system screams you’re out of time We all find something worth the fight Even if it’s just making it through the night The end and the start are closer than they seem Both ask you to step out and be seen Carry your history, don’t wear it like chains You’re allowed to heal without erasing the pain Remember the lessons, honour the cost But don’t let your future belong to the past You’re not broken for feeling everything You’re alive And that counts as winning
