Permission to Break

This track comes from leadership earned through service, failures, and rebuilding — the long game of legacy. It tackles Giving yourself permission to fall apart. The strongest thing a leader, veteran, and builder can do is admit they need to break down before they can rebuild.. The lyrics get specific — "Because holding it together was never really strength" — because personal tracks on Majik's are personal for real, not performatively. The soul production matches the energy of the confession. It hits vulnerable and cathartic, in that order. Every personal track in the catalogue comes from a real moment, a real feeling, a real person. This one is no exception.

[verse 1] I've been holding it together since the day I shipped to sea Eighteen years old, jaw clenched, performing being free From the fear, from the doubt, from the shaking in my knees Holding it together was the only thing that pleased The officers, the system, the machine that doesn't care If you're falling apart, as long as you're standing there So I stood, and I stood, and I built a life of standing While the man inside was drowning, barely understanding [chorus] I give myself permission to break Permission to crumble for my own sake Permission to cry in the car, in the shower, in the dark Permission to let it shatter, every armor-plated part Because holding it together was never really strength It was fear dressed up in discipline at arm's length I give myself permission to break And permission to rebuild when I wake [verse 2] The Black Belt's on the wall, the company's alive The platform's running, clients' projects thrive But the man behind the metrics hasn't stopped in years To feel the full weight of his accumulated tears For the friends he lost, the loves that didn't last The future he was building while he ran from the past DoD civilian with a classified heart Classified because he never learned the art Of falling apart [chorus] I give myself permission to break Permission to crumble for my own sake Permission to cry in the car, in the shower, in the dark Permission to let it shatter, every armor-plated part [bridge] This isn't weakness, let me say it twice This isn't weakness, this is paying the price For being strong too long without a pause For carrying the weight without a cause To set it down, to let the floor Hold you for a while, that's what floors are for [verse 3] So here, right now, in this song, in this breath I'm breaking open, I'm choosing less Less armor, less performance, less pretend And more of whatever comes when the pretending ends Aaron Stransky, veteran, founder, man I give myself permission to not always have a plan [outro] Break It's okay to break The breaking isn't the ending The breaking is where the light gets in Permission granted