Published via Ecency

Hello hivians and thinkers, it's your ever gentle royal and I welcome y'all to my blog.

When we think of price paying, I can say that my price to pay was chosen for me automatically by virtue of birth right. I had no say in the matter, perks of being born as the first child in an African family.

From birth, I was drilled to be upstanding and outstanding so as to be able to cater to the needs and affairs of my young ones. I grew up with the weight of responsibility bearing heavily on my shoulders. I was not allowed to play too much or be as naughty as my siblings. They somehow got away with everything while I bore the brunt of several scoldings.

There were times I was not allowed to watch cartoons because of an upcoming examination. I recall that my dad would set an alarm beside my bed to wake me up one hour early so that I could "burn the midnight oil" before beginning my day. He would always tell me that I needed to perform my very best so that I could guide my siblings in their studies and that was just a nice way of saying all their homework is now my responsibility 😁.

At first I wasn't bothered because the results were rewarding. I was always amongst the top three students in the class every academic year and I was very pleased with that but it cost me some of my friends who couldn't understand why my head was always in a book and not with them. I was a book worm, I read books virtually everywhere I went whether it's the kitchen, dinning, the toilet or even on a bus, I read and read. I guess this trait of mine numbed other parts of my life like socializing.

I rarely socialize like the way young ladies my age do. In fact right now, my alias has shifted from "bookworm" to "workaholic". I leave my house by 7am so as to get to work on time and I return to the house by 8pm or 9pm depending on the workload and traffic. This routine is from Monday to Saturday while I have a little rest on Sundays. I used a the word "little" because sometimes, my services would be required on a Sunday after church service and I would be willing to take the offer if the pay is good. Thus, my life revolves around work, work and more work with little or less time for myself.

I have to work to cater to the needs of my daughter and two of my siblings staying with me. They are all in school and the chunk of the responsibility of feeding, books, tuition and shelter rests on my slim shoulders. The beautiful fact is that I do not have regrets at all.

I am neither bothered nor worried about life passing me by because right now, I am contributing my quota to life, sowing good seeds, walking the path of simplicity and minimalism and I am comfortably better as I am in no competition with anyone at all. So far, I can proudly say that I am doing well where I am at present and I'm certainly pushing for better things in future.

Despite my boring social life, I have been able to make friends with positive mindset and better orientation that I can learn from. Also online, I have a handful of good people I am proud to call friends. These all work together to spice up my life and I don't feel dulled in any way. The price is worth it for me.

Thia is my response to the May edition prompt of the thinker's corner as initiated and posed by @kenechukwu97.