From Fear To Growth

I remember when I was in primary school, anytime I couldn’t get that perfect score on my maths paper like my parents wanted me to, I would use my own red pen to give myself whatever mark I wanted. I did this for two terms until Gladys and I became friends. I realized that even though she was also scared of showing her low marks to her parents, she still did it anyway and promised them she would do better.

For some reason, her parents never shouted at her or did anything to her anytime they saw those marks. They only told her to fulfill her promise and just like that, she started doing better. One particular term, I gathered all the courage in the world and showed my maths paper to my mom. She smiled at first which shocked me because I was expecting her to go full Rambo on me upon seeing those numbers.

It happened that even though I was changing the marks on my paper, I forgot to change them on my report card so they knew the real marks. They just wanted me to come clean and tell them what the problem was. There was no problem actually. I had just dedicated my time to crocheting at that time because I was fascinated by what I could do with my hook.

The next term score on my maths paper blew my own mind away and I was so happy that I listened to Gladys. My parents were proud of me and happy that I was doing better. There and then, I knew I needed Gladys in my life and that’s how we’ve been friends for 18 years.

When I was a kid, I was very easy to influence. I was that friend who would just do whatever my friends wanted just to make them happy but it wasn’t like that with Gladys. As we grew together, she made me realize the importance of doing the right thing for myself and not to please anyone. Sometimes, it’s very hard to do the right thing knowing that it’s not going to make people happy but I’m glad to have Gladys in my corner.

My parents really like Gladys because they realized she actually changed me. At a point, I wasn’t stubborn at home anymore and my parents knew even though they played a role in my transformation, they weren’t the ones who played the major role. And it was true. Everything was on Gladys.

My childhood relationship with her till today has helped me learn the importance of evaluation. Now, I actually think things through so many times before doing them. When I feel like I don’t know what to do, I make sure to check first to see that at least, I’m not trying to please anyone with my actions.