"Life is hard."
I hear it all the time
but there's something about that sentence
that they're not getting right

Life isn't something you can touch
and it's not something you can see
it's something deep within us
that allows us to just... be

No, LIFE isn't hard
the word you're looking for is LIVE
See, living takes a lot of effort
that some people just can't give

It's not that we don't want to
or that we're not trying hard enough
it's just... sometimes the things we go through
make living kind of tough

From heartbreak to mistakes
or losing your best friend
the world is filled with heartache
that makes it harder to pretend...

Oh, I know we say we're fine
and that everything's just "swell"
but inside we're slowly drowning
and I'm not surprised that you can't tell

See, some of us are experts
at putting on a mask
like robots, we can nod our heads
and even smile when you ask

But if by chance you ever managed to
see beyond the words we say
you might glimpse the inner demons
that we battle every day

From self-hate to self-harm
and a variety of bad self-thoughts
sometimes, they just find their way to us
but sometimes it's what we're taught

Depression and Anxiety and unrelenting OCD
panic attacks and flashbacks and even PTSD
these aren't excuses we come up with
they're just harsh reality

It's not our fault we have them
they're not something that we choose
they're just the hands that we've been dealt
and aren't at liberty to refuse

So in honor of these silent soldiers
who walk through life invisibly scarred
the next time you want to say that phrase
remember... it's not LIFE but LIVING that's hard...