On the quiet peace that only comes when nothing is owed and nobody is watching

Truck Paid Off

Stress is the version of yourself you think you ought to be,
the one who’s got it figured out for everyone to see.
He’s sharper than you are and never shows up late,
and he lives inside your head and he don’t ever take a break.

Peace is something different — it’s quieter and plain,
it’s who you are at sundown after working through the rain.
Nobody’s watching and the day is done and the debt is paid
and you sit on the tailgate in the cooling evening shade.

The truck is paid off — that’s the detail that unlocks the thing,
because a man who owes a payment’s got a low-grade suffering
that never fully leaves him, a hum beneath the day —
but a man whose truck is his just sits and lets the worry fray.

So stress is who you perform when the world requires a show,
and peace is what remains of you when you can finally go
home to just yourself without the performance and the weight —
that man on the tailgate with the paid-off truck. That man is great.

Stress is who you think you oughta be… peace is who you are when nobody’s watchin’ and the truck’s finally paid off.

I’m Alan Nafzger. Appreciate ya!