Creativenonfiction #77 - Mastering Self -Control

There is a saying that "If you learn self-control, you can master anything".

This event happened some months back. I went to the market on a fine afternoon to get some foodstuffs. I was able to get a few things and I moved to other stalls to get more of the things on my list.

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It had rained two days earlier and though some places filled with water had dried up, some places were still filled with water which made it difficult for people to pass some places in to get the things they needed. Some people placed some large stones along the roads in the marketplace for people to be able to pass without having to dip their feet into the muddy water.

Despite this strategy, some places are still not water-free but still passable. I was moving to where I wanted to get some pepper when I mistakenly stepped on a little bit of mud water resulting in a little splash on the lady beside me. The splash caused a little stain on the down part of her trousers and upon seeing what had happened, I quickly apologized and tried to find a way to take off the stain, but before I could say, Jack, the lady pushed me and I almost fell.

"Are you blind? Look at what you have done to my clothes", she shouted at me, causing people to look our way.

"I am so sorry, It wasn't intentional", I tried apologizing seeing as I didn't intentionally cause the splash but this lady was having none of it.

"Aunty, abeg calm down, she don beg you" (Aunty, please be calm, she has apologized), a passerby told her, also apologizing on my behalf.

"Eh, Mind Your Business, I am not talking to you" The lady fired at the woman trying to intercede.

The whole thing caused a scene and people passing by who saw the little stain knew that the lady was overreacting.

I bought a white handkerchief and a sachet of water from the trader beside me and I made a move to help her get rid of the little stain.

"Don't touch me with those dirty hands of yours, you stupid thing", she shouted at me again. At that moment I was so livid, but I just had to exercise some self-control because I was at the point of losing it.

She left afterwards giving me more insults on her way. I just stood rooted to the spot till she was out of sight.

Some passersby asked me if we knew each other before because they all felt the little incident shouldn't be the only reason for all those insults she threw my way. I told them I didn't know her nor had I seen her before.

I thanked them and continued with my shopping but deep down, I was so sad that I almost felt like crying. Even when I got home I still thought about the whole thing because she hurt me with her words but I had to let go of the pain after some time.

It is said that we should always try to part with people on good terms because we never can tell when we will meet again and of course, the lady and I met again after some months.

It happened that I and three of my friends decided to find a day to go to the beach to have fun and unwind. Then one of my friends told us she wanted to invite her cousin who is not too far from her and the cousin also wanted to come with a friend.

We agreed, because the more, the merrier, right?

On the day, we already made our preparations for drinks, food, and many more. We planned to spoil ourselves silly and also planned some games we would play at the beach. I set off with two of my friends because our other friend told us she would be coming with her cousin and her cousin's friend.

When we got there, we paid the gate fee and went in while we awaited their arrival. It didn't take long before we saw them approaching us and you guessed right, the cousin's friend happened to be the girl that Insulted me back then.

They got to the hut we rented and upon seeing me, I could feel the shame seeping out of her and she instantly felt ill at ease. My friend and her cousin hugged me and we were already playing right from the hut. I greeted the lady and moved away to change into my beachwear because I planned to have loads of fun at the beach.

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After some time, the lady probably noticed I was just running about, playing without a care in the world. She then summoned the courage and approached me. She apologized for what she did back then and asked me to forgive her.

I shrugged and told her, It's *water under the bridge" and that's not because we were literally beside the water. I figured it's been months and though I was hurt when it happened, I was glad I was able to control myself and not escalate the whole thing.

We all danced, ate, and had loads of fun at the beach before going back to our various destinations.

Thank you all for reading.