If you knew what I went through in my formative years
you wouldn’t question my integrity, I’m more than sincere
from where I came: a life riddled with fear
not recognizing my own face when I looked in the mirror
drown my pain with the beer
more than likely drinking the straight liquor
quicker just to make my skin thicker, killing my liver
just so I could be confident enough to deliver
myself unto the world, I was born to be a giver
swimming against the river, so cold I’d start to shiver
shake quiver from withdrawals, I’d fall and try to figure
why some people got the whole pie and I can’t see a sliver
vision skewed, feeling blind
struggling to find, peace of mind
started giving them a piece of my mind
thesis reaching without preaching, teaching, featuring I’m
speaking in the nick of time, amongst the greatest of crimes
is self-repression, here’s the lesson, if you seek you will find
HOOK:
It’s not life if we only exist
what we spend our time resisting is bound to persist
there’s no mystery it’s
what I’ve learned from the strain and the pain
we make our rules or we play somebody else’s game
I’ve given up keeping score because nothing is fair
and despite that I had to find the reasons to care
because selfishness was loneliness that drove me insane
now I can never go back to the place from which I came
My awareness of the world was painfu
knowing what I did and not acting was shameful
not being thankful
although I was eating, had shoes on my feet’n
there’s people starving in the streets’n their bellies ain’t full
lacking perspective I was also lacking clarity
focused on my pain, thinking no-one could compare to me
tried to numb it with the herbs and rum
drinking straight Appleton
and smoking blunts that changed the colour of my lungs
standing in front this ladder, staring at the bottom rung
with every step I fell 2 steps back, was feeling dumb
even worse, started thinking that my life wasn’t vital
like a curse, losing hope, started feeling suicidal
crushed by my depression, distrust like and infection
that was spreading through my system
fucked up beyond recognition
I thank God every day that I overcame that position
‘cause death of my old self meant that I gained a mission
HOOK:
It’s not life if we only exist
what we spend our time resisting is bound to persist
there’s no mystery it’s
what I’ve learned from the strain and the pain
we make our rules or we play somebody else’s game
I’ve given up keeping score because nothing is fair
and despite that I had to find the reasons to care
because selfishness was loneliness that drove me insane
now I can never go back to the place from which I came
Regardless of the circumstances we’ve got choices to make
the way I see it, I can choose either to give or to take
in every single situation, I can build and create
or I can destroy and employ mechanics of hate
where I was in my past, I didn't know that it could be
a different way because I just couldn’t see
I didn’t know I could be me
I didn’t know that I could choose to believe
a different life – nowadays I’m a different kind of free
I used to think in black and white, but I know that wasn’t right
because the world lives in shades of gray
that compose our everyday
I heard ‘em say: “perspective ain’t everything,” but it’s close so
we can either grow or decay
you see I had to stop burning all the herb and tobacco
put the plug in the jug so I could break my mental shackles
now I earnestly believe there’s no problem I can’t tackle
there’s no war anymore, because I won the only battle
HOOK:
It’s not life if we only exist
what we spend our time resisting is bound to persist
there’s no mystery it’s
what I’ve learned from the strain and the pain
we make our rules or we play somebody else’s game
I’ve given up keeping score because nothing is fair
and despite that I had to find the reasons to care
because selfishness was loneliness that drove me insane
now I can never go back to the place from which I came
