I lived to please other people

And found my life in tatters

I thought that loving self

Was all that really matters

So I worked on living for myself

Day after day

Putting my needs first and caring for my mental health

In every way

I told myself I loved me,

And then I felt I could cry

I felt so bare and empty

And I didn’t know why

Then the world ended

And when the noise died down

I discovered that I was alive

With no one else around

My life that heretofore was for myself

Didn’t matter anymore

For every effort I had spent

Had no purpose in this new world.

When I said that all I need is me

I knew that I had lied

Because I know now I need other people

After all of them have died.

Pleasing other people is really living for myself

Which is why I found it bad

True life is found in loving others

I didn’t know what I had.