“Tell Me Who I Am”
I knew the sound of my own name
A Song for Survivors
“Tell Me Who I Am”
A Song by Tim McGuinness, Ph.D.
Music & Lyrics Copyright © 2026 – All Rights Reserved Worldwide
LYRICS
Tell Me Who I Am
I knew the sound of my own name,
I knew the road, I knew the frame,
I knew the woman in the glass,
I knew my future, knew my past.
Then truth came crashing through the door,
And nothing meant what it meant before,
Now every memory feels like sand,
So tell me, tell me who I am.
If I believed what wasn’t true,
What does that make me? What did I lose?
If I was living someone else’s plan,
Tell me now, who am I?
Tell me who I am,
Tell me about me.
Tell me what is real
When I don’t trust what I see.
Tell me where I went,
Tell me where I’ve been.
Tell me which parts were always mine
And which belonged to them.
I know my face, I know my name,
But I don’t feel the same.
Tell me who I am.
Tell me about me.
I gave away the things I knew,
Bent every truth to make it true,
Ignored the voice inside my head,
Believed the promises instead.
I changed my plans, I changed my days,
I learned to live inside their maze,
And now I’m standing where it ends,
Trying to find myself again.
Was I the fool I call myself,
Or someone trapped inside their spell?
If they were lying all that time,
Were these feelings even mine?
Tell me who I am,
Tell me about me.
Tell me what is real
When I don’t trust what I see.
Tell me where I went,
Tell me where I’ve been.
Tell me which parts were always mine
And which belonged to them.
I know my face, I know my name,
But I don’t feel the same.
Tell me who I am.
Tell me about me.
I used to know the things I loved,
The things I feared, the things I trusted,
What made me laugh, what made me strong,
Where I belonged when things went wrong.
Now even music sounds like them,
A photograph becomes a wound again,
And every piece of who I knew
Feels stained by everything they put me through.
But wait…
They didn’t give me my heart.
They only found it.
They didn’t give me my love.
They only used it.
They didn’t make me kind.
They took advantage.
They didn’t make me who I was.
They only damaged
What was already mine.
The love was mine, the hope was mine,
The faith I gave was real that time.
The hands that reached, the heart that cared,
Those belonged to me, not what they shared.
They stole the story, wore a face,
They took my trust and changed its place,
But underneath what they began,
Something of me still says I am.
Tell me who I am,
Tell me about me.
Maybe I don’t need
Someone else to answer me.
I know where I’ve hurt,
I know where I’ve been,
And I am more than what they took,
More than what they did.
I know my face, I’ll learn my name,
I don’t have to be the same.
I will find who I am.
I will learn about me.Not who I was before.
Not who they wanted me to be.
Not what happened to me.
Who I am now.
And who I choose to be.
This made me think back to the first scam because I was willing to do anything for this criminal at the time. It took until I was out of money and a ridiculous story for me to say no more. Now looking back it was like my life was a blur. Looking back that wasn’t me. It was like I was under some kind of spell. But I’m learning to be aware of scams. If I get an email that is questionable I ask Chat GPT to review it. Most have been scams. I keep myself off social media so I don’t come in contact with the group that is impersonating the actor from Italy. I’m still very hyper vigilant. I’m suspicious of everything and people until I really get to know them. I’m also suspicious of anything having to do with money. I’ve had to change my passwords several times on some of my accounts. I could go on but I definitely see now how I got sucked in trauma from childhood has left me with this loving and belonging need which the criminals just devoured.