I’m Only Human

I can hold my breath
I can bite my tongue
I can stay awake for days
If that’s what you want
Be your number one
I can fake a smile
I can force a laugh
I can dance and play the part
If that’s what you ask
Give you all I am

I can do it
I can do it
I can do it

But I’m only human
And I bleed when I fall down
I’m only human
And I crash and I break down
Your words in my head, knives in my heart
You build me up and then I fall apart
‘Cause I’m only human, yeah

I can turn it on
Be a good machine
I can hold the weight of worlds
If that’s what you need
Be your everything

I can do it
I can do it
I’ll get through it

But I’m only human
And I bleed when I fall down
I’m only human
And I crash and I break down
Your words in my head, knives in my heart
You build me up and then I fall apart
‘Cause I’m only human, yeah

I’m only human
I’m only human
Just a little human

I can take so much
Until I’ve had enough

‘Cause I’m only human
And I bleed when I fall down
I’m only human
And I crash and I break down
Your words in my head, knives in my heart
You build me up and then I fall apart
‘Cause I’m only human
~Human by Christina Perri

I have been stress recently. No, that is not a typo. I have not been stressed. I have been stress. I am stress. As the school year winds down, life picks up. There is no time to breathe. But then I heard this song after school one day, Human, and it affected me so much that I dropped everything to listen and learn this song. I’m not sure why it caught my attention. Maybe it was because I recognized Christina Perri’s voice, or maybe because it wasn’t one of the 5 songs that constantly plays on the radio. But, either way, it made an impression on me.

I mean didn’t the lyrics catch your attention? “I’m only human” For once it isn’t about being “supernatural” or “larger than life”. Finally, someone admits that they can’t conquer the world, they are just really good at faking it. It seems like we all get so good at carrying the weight of words on our shoulders, that no one even notices that the weight is slowly crushing us. Life gets hard. Trying to handle everything for everyone is exhausting. I like to think that I can hold my world, and the worlds of others all the time. My commitments, my problems, my friends’ problems, my friends’ relationships, my own relationships. But the fact is, like Christina Perri, and everyone else in the world, I am only human. Sometimes I need to break down, but let me apologize if you are within range when that happens! 🙂 I am thankful that this song was a stress reliever for me. Even when all of the pressure tells me that perfection is the answer, I have been reminded that I don’t, in fact, have to be perfect!

~Lily Rose