Minding My Business

What hurts the most is giving out good advice to someone and then them tell “Don’t tell me what to do”. I have younger ones and most times they don’t need to say those words but then their actions will simply tell me that they don’t need me telling them what to do. If they were strangers I would have let them be but since they are my siblings, I have to keep talking.

I try so hard to be on my own most times, I don’t tell people my business and when they tell me theirs, I try to keep my opinion to myself to avoid certain statements like “Did I ask for your opinion or Don’t tell me what to do” because I will be super embarrassed except when they ask for my advice or opinion. Either way most times we can’t help but advise people who we think need advice and then we end up being slammed by them.

This brings me to remembering a certain thing that happened between a friend and me. I will always say that the worst set of people to give advice are those who are in love and a relationship. It is so difficult to talk to them about their partner. This friend of mine taught me how to mind my business but I think she learned how to take advice too.

We were super close then and she met this guy, without any background checks, she got into a relationship with him. A few times she would come over to my place crying and complaining that he hit her and then she also thinks he is cheating so whenever she tries to confront him, she gets beaten. I felt disgusted at that point and just had to advise her, I told her how toxic the relationship was and how she should call it a quit. She behaved like she was listening. The next day, he came begging with gifts and she was off to his place.

I tried to talk to her about it but then she sent me a message telling me “I shouldn’t tell her what to do and I am just jealous since I was single.” I kept telling myself that it served me right as I should have just minded my business and focused on myself. I thought it would end there but then this girl went to tell the guy I asked her to break up and the relationship was toxic, I got another message from him saying I should mind my business. Well, I was just looking out for a friend, but at that point, I realized I needed to let her be.

We stopped talking afterward but a few months later, I got a message from her telling me how she found out he was getting married from a friend’s social media account. I felt bad for her, she got heartbroken more and to think she had no source of income, I just told her to take care of herself at least he didn’t beat her to death.

After that encounter with her, I tried my best to mind my business and it’s been going well for me.

This is my response to the weekly Dreemport prompt for Thinkers’ Corner Contest Week 3 initiated by @kenechukwu97