Built Broken (Made to Adjust)

I didn't grow up careful

I didn't grow up careful

I grew up getting thrown at the world like a dare

Lactose-intolerant at birth

Almost checked out before I knew my own name

Got hit by a car before and didn't break a bone

Fell through a burned-out roof because I didn't listen

And never learned fear the way normal people do

I don't remember learning how to "take it easy."

I just remember getting up, brushing dirt off the bone

And treating survival like a chore I never signed up for

I wasn't built for sympathy

I was built broken from scar tissue and

Too many second chances no one asked for

The warnings were always there

But I was too stubborn, too numb, too used to the fall

I don't need prayers

I don't need pity

I'm still here

And that's the punchline that hurts the most

Pain never taught me anything

Kidney stones, broken skin, blood where it shouldn't be

None of it ever behaved the way people warned me it would

Doctors kept waiting for me to scream

But all I ever felt was annoyance

And the need to get on with my day

Maybe that's why the warnings never landed

Maybe that's why I didn't listen

When my body started sending signals

It had never used before

All I wanted was beer and groceries

All I did was fall - twice

And suddenly strangers were dialing 911

Like I was dying in the parking lot

Turns out I was

Sepsis eating one leg

Endocarditis chewing on my heart

Doctors whispering the kind of talk

People only use when the room smells like the end

They told the only person who showed up

To get ready

To start planning

To expect the easy outcome

Of me not waking up

I wasn't built for sympathy

I was built broken from scar tissue and

Too many second chances no one asked for

The warnings were always there