For days now you’ve avoided being criticized
On one level you feel like you have arrived
But it’s just that the stress of what someone else thinks
That’s been pressuring you to perpetually shrink
Deeper into your invisible hoodie
Where you go to avoid feeling like you are bullied
You haven’t said anything or done something risky
And you haven’t allowed yourself to feel frisky
This isn’t living, it’s avoiding the pain
That falls in every one’s life like a rain
The pain that lets you know you are alive
The pain that causes people to strive
Come on now, stick your head out of your shell
You’re just wallowing there in your own private hell
Why not allow yourself the privilege to hurt
That’s also comes with the freedom to assert
You’re so careful you don’t offend somebody else
But what you are doing is hurting yourself
