I'M UNLEARNING - Engele van Zyl

🎵 I'M UNLEARNING Sometimes growing up isn't about learning more. Sometimes it's about unlearning. I'M UNLEARNING is a powerful contemporary country ballad about rediscovering who you are beneath the rules, expectations, fears and beliefs you were taught from childhood. We grow up hearing: Don't question things. Don't disappoint people. Don't take risks. Be responsible. Keep the peace. Don't ask for help. Then, somewhere between the years and the scars, we realise some of those rules were never really ours. Some were fear. Some were survival. Some were simply beliefs passed down through generations. Growing older isn't necessarily about finally having life figured out. Sometimes it's about peeling away the layers and discovering the person who was there underneath them all along. I'M UNLEARNING is about setting boundaries without guilt, finding the courage to say no, asking for help without shame, letting go of expectations, and choosing to write your own story. You don't have to become someone new. Sometimes you just have to come home to yourself. ❤️ 🎼 MUSIC STYLE Powerful cinematic contemporary country ballad at 80 BPM, featuring an intimate mature female lead vocal with a warm, slightly raspy country tone. 🎤 LYRICS [Verse 1] I was raised on a list of little rules, Written in the margins of a hand-me-down truth. Don’t talk about money, don’t question the why, Don’t make too much noise, don’t reach too high. Be responsible, keep your feet on the ground, Don’t disappoint the people who are counting on you now. So I wore their expectations like a well-fitted dress, And called it growing up, when it was really just a guess. [Pre-Chorus] But somewhere between the years and the scars, I started looking past the map in my heart. And every old answer I thought that I knew Started sounding a little less true. [Chorus] So I’m unlearning, Everything they taught me I was supposed to be. Unlearning fear, unlearning shame, Unlearning answers that were never mine to name. I’m letting go of “should” and “must,” Of keeping quiet just to keep the peace and trust. I don’t have all the answers, But I finally know one thing— I’d rather write my own story Than live the one they wrote for me. Yeah, I’m unlearning… And somewhere underneath it all, I’m finding me. [Verse 2] I’m unlearning that a boundary makes me cold, That saying “no” means I’m selfish or old. Unlearning that silence is the price of peace, And swallowing my truth will make the hurting cease. I’m unlearning that asking for a hand Means I wasn’t strong enough to stand. And I’m learning that strength can look like letting go, And sometimes “I need you” is the bravest thing I know. [Pre-Chorus] ’Cause the older I get, the stranger it seems, How much of my life was somebody else’s dream. Some fears were inherited, passed down like names, Some were survival dressed up as rules and shame. [Verse 3] I thought growing older meant I’d finally know Which way to turn and exactly where to go. Turns out adulthood doesn’t come with a guide— It just makes everything cost more when you get it wrong sometimes. There are bills on the table, wrinkles in the mirror, Questions getting louder as the answers disappear. But I’m done pretending certainty is what makes you grown. Maybe knowing who you are Is enough to call it home. [Bridge] I’m peeling back the layers, one by one, The fear, the guilt, the “you should have” and “you must.” Some belonged to people who were doing their best, Some came from wounds they never got to address. And I can love where I came from Without carrying it all. I can honour what they gave me And still choose what I let go. [Breakdown] I don’t have to be smaller. I don’t have to be quiet. I don’t have to keep the peace By starting a war inside me. I don’t have to have it figured out. I just have to be honest now. [Final Chorus] I’m unlearning, Every little lie that kept me from being free. Unlearning fear, unlearning shame, Unlearning how to disappear to make somebody else okay. I’m letting go of “should” and “must,” Learning when to fight and when to simply trust. I don’t have all the answers, And maybe I never will— But for the first time in my life, I’m choosing what feels real. I’m unlearning… And underneath the years, Underneath the rules, Underneath the fear, There’s a woman I can finally see. She was there all along. She was waiting underneath it all. And now I’m coming home to me. [Outro] I’m not starting over… I’m starting from who I am. No more living by their script, No more asking if I can. I’m unlearning. I’m remembering. I’m becoming… Me. 🎧 Listen. Feel. Reflect. Unlearn. Become. If this song speaks to you, leave a ❤️ and tell me: What are you unlearning? 🎵 Created by: Engele van Zyl #ImUnlearning #EngeleVanZyl #CountryMusic #CountrySong #ContemporaryCountry #CountryBallad #OriginalMusic #OriginalSong #SingerSongwriter #EmotionalCountry #SelfDiscovery #PersonalGrowth #HealingJourney #Empowerment #FindingYourself #ComingHomeToMe