Today, December 27th marks the beginning of the final countdown - just four days left before the year comes to a close. Over the past few days, I've been writing reflective posts back-to-back (thanks to communities and their prompts.) Meaning, I've visited memory lane several times in the past few days. Interesting rides! As I've mentioned in my previous posts, 2024 has been a rollercoaster of a year, filled with memories. Sweet ones, bitters ones, and a combination of both. Today's Hive Learners prompt asks about the one thing from this year that I'll never forget. When I saw this topic, I immediately thought of the bad experiences that this year brought, which is what I'll be discussing in this post. However, I hope to eventually forget about them and move forward with my life. That’s the best way to live life. Although some memories are difficult to erase, the best thing is to learn from them and try to move on with life.
One of the many things that happened this year taught me a great lesson. A lesson that is difficult for me to erase, is getting stabbed in the back by close friends. Not one, but two friends. Have you ever been betrayed by people you thought would fight for you on rainy days? These two friends were not on that level, but I expected more from them. I had been friends with them since my high out r school days, which is more than a decade and a half ago. Before our paths crossed, our parents had already met. My parents and theirs had their weddings on the same day, in the same church. Pretty interesting, right? We met in our first year in high school and quickly became close. They'd often come over to my place to play video games and I’d do the same. Our friendship grew stronger when we got to our senior years in high school when we switched from the science department to the art department.
Things got interesting when we got into the university. As it turned out, we all picked the same university as our first choice. We lived together for a year. During that time, we had good memories where we cooked together, reading together, and doing crazy things. It is difficult for guys to have issues when they live together, so we rarely have quarrels. I'm not sure we had any major disagreements living with them under the same roof. Although we were cool, I realized it would be better to stay alone, so I moved out of the hostel. I didn't want that to end our friendship. I didn't want it to seem like I left because we had issues, so I often visited them (at least four times a week.)
I'd visit them, laugh together, and play games with them. On certain days whenever they felt bored, they'd also visit me in my hostel and we'd have fun. This cycle repeated itself for a year. I was excited that even though I had moved out of the house, our friendship remained intact. Interestingly, when we went on the last break (a few months ago), I got to know that my so-called friends whom I'd known for more than 15 years, had been spreading awful things about me. How would you feel if you found out that your friend whom you'd known for a very long time has been spreading awful things about you, not just to one person, but to so many people in the hostel? I felt stupid, dumb, and betrayed when I found out. It was painful to realize that the laughter and smiles were fake. They reminded me that humans will always be as unpredictable as ever.
Before I got into the university, I was skeptical about people. I think this can be traced to books I read. Whenever I get close to new people, I also put it at the back of my mind to expect the worst from them. When the worst happens, I don’t get too hurt. But when I got into the university, I decided to lower my guard down and give people another chance. Now, look where that got me.
There you have it! This is one of the things that happened to me this year. This experience has taught me to be more cautious again, and I've raised my guard once more.
Thanks for reading.
