The Life You Choose

[Verse 1]
Bought a one-way ticket with the rent due Friday
Small bag, worn shoes, let the map misguide me
Lisbon rain on a paper cup, first night alone
Learned the price of a room and the weight of my own
Missed the last train, found a bench by the quay
Called home just to say, “I can figure this way”
Every strange little problem put a tool in my hand
Every border I crossed made me wider than planned

[Pre-Chorus]
I was waiting for permission, waiting for a sign
Then I signed my name and drew the first line

[Chorus]
Go see what the wide world asks of you
Build something small till it carries you through
Stand on your own, let the first try be rough
You don’t find your shape till you’ve made your own stuff
Take the long road, learn the cost, learn the view
The life you become is the life you choose

[Verse 2]
Back home, one desk and a borrowed old chair
Two clients, one invoice, cold noodles to spare
Made the calls with my hands shaking under the table
Kept the books in a box till the work was stable
Some months said no, some doors stayed shut
Then a stranger said yes to the thing I’d built up
I can miss where I started and still move ahead
There’s a whole new horizon past fear in my head

[Pre-Chorus]
No map can promise where the brave road bends
But each choice makes a stranger your friend

[Chorus]
Go see what the wide world asks of you
Build something small till it carries you through
Stand on your own, let the first try be rough
You don’t find your shape till you’ve made your own stuff
Take the long road, learn the cost, learn the view
The life you become is the life you choose

[Bridge]
Not for a trophy, not to outrun the past
For the person I meet when I’m tested at last
I can make a home from a key and a plan
I can lose, learn, begin again

[Final Chorus]
Go see what the wide world asks of you
Build something real with the nerve to see through
Stand on your own, let the first try be rough
You don’t find your shape till you’ve made your own stuff
Take the long road, learn the cost, learn the view
The life you become is the life you choose

[Outro]
One more mile, one more door
More of myself than I was before