I BURIED WHO I USED TO BE

Lyrics

I (Verse 1) I found a photograph in a drawer Of someone wearing my face Same eyes, same mouth, same restless hands But living in a different place He still believed in being chosen Still mistook attention for worth Still kept asking broken people To explain what he deserved I looked at him without hatred Without longing, without shame Just the strange recognition That survival changes names (Pre-Chorus) Some endings don't need witnesses Some funerals make no sound Sometimes the past is finally finished When you stop digging it back out (Chorus) I buried who I used to be Not in sorrow Not in defeat I laid him down beneath the years And walked away on steadier feet I buried who I used to be With every promise I outgrew I kept the wisdom Left the wreckage And made room for something new (Verse 2) There were habits dressed as comfort There were people dressed as home There were patterns I kept feeding Just because they felt well known I called chaos chemistry Called obsession something deep Called exhaustion dedication Called abandonment a need But repetition isn't destiny And familiar isn't true Sometimes growth begins the moment You stop worshipping what wounded you (Pre-Chorus) I stopped returning to the graveyard Just to prove the past was real What has ended needs no resurrection To confirm what I once felt (Chorus) I buried who I used to be Not in sorrow Not in defeat I laid him down beneath the years And walked away on steadier feet I buried who I used to be With every promise I outgrew I kept the wisdom Left the wreckage And made room for something new (Verse 3) I thought becoming meant addition More achievement, more control But sometimes evolution happens When you stop carrying the old Less explanation Less permission Less negotiating with regret Less returning to old versions Just because they're hard to forget I began to notice breathing Had become a little wide Like the future needed space That the past had occupied (Bridge) I did not kill the memory I did not erase the years I did not turn old tenderness Into bitterness or fear I simply stopped confusing Who I had been with who I am A former self can be respected Without becoming your command (Breakdown) No headstone No flowers No name carved into stone Just one quiet understanding I had already gone No ceremony No goodbye No need to make it grand I released the person I became Before I learned to understand (Final Chorus) I buried who I used to be Where yesterday can finally rest I took the lessons from his failures And left behind the rest I buried who I used to be And nothing sacred disappeared What mattered became wisdom What was finished stayed behind I don't need another version Of the person I once knew I am not returning backward Just because the past feels true (Outro) There are lives we live inside one lifetime There are selves we cannot keep Some deserve our gratitude Some deserve their sleep I turned away from the old ground And heard no voice behind Only footsteps moving forward Into a life that felt like mine