Greetings!
When I read the prompt announcement of this article, I felt like the publisher was talking to me directly because I've faced challenges many times, especially with sickness, and no one knew apart from my brother who was living with me on an "off and on" pattern.
The last sickness I had, which was two years ago if I'm not mistaken, came at a time when my immediate younger brother was no longer as stable in the house as he used to be. He had been traveling here and there for his hustling. The sickness came and held me so bad that I found it hard to come outside the house or open my workplace, which was within the compound. It's not like it was so bad at the initial stage that I couldn't walk out or talk; no, it was just there, dealing with me, and I didn't want anyone else to know because I hate that sympathetic thing. I don't usually have friends that come around to visit; most of my friends are online.
One day came and went, and I didn't allow anybody to see me. Only one person in the compound asked about me, and that was because he came to collect the phone charger he had used to charge his phone in my house the previous night. When he saw my mood, I just told him I was battling a minor fever. Yeah, that was what I thought it was until it worsened the following day to the extent that I found it hard to walk out to get drugs from the chemist shop close to me because of a heavy cold. I was suffering inside but still didn't want anybody to know because I don't want people telling me that "sorry" and peeping into life and also I knew I wasn't going to die. I just have this confidence that I must hit 98 years and above before leaving this earth, so no matter what type of health issues come, I don't fear.
On the night of the second day, when the pain in my stomach and the cold were severe, my brother walked into the house around 9:30 pm with his traveling bag. Immediately he saw me and asked what was up, he went to get more drugs and Lucozade Boost for me, which I struggled to take.
That particular sickness taught me a lesson to be less secretive and private, especially about health issues. I knew I wouldn't have died, but if my brother hadn't come that night, I would have reached hell, and maybe placed one of my hands on it. Lol 😂
I think God on the judgement day, will judge a person badly if he or she died of sickness where the person could have opened up to people around him to get help.
A scenario happened when I was in school...
In the middle of the night around 3:00 am, we had a bang on our door. We were already awake, and when we opened it, we saw our landlord panting and begging us to help him take his wife to the hospital because she was dying. We rushed off, and when we got there, the wife was almost naked, lying lifeless on the couch. At that moment, he (the landlord) didn't bother that we were seeing his wife like that; all he wanted was for us to just help get her to the hospital by all means.
Who knows, maybe if he had told us to wait first to dress his wife before we were allowed to enter the house, she might not have survived.
That's where wisdom comes into play in our lives. There are private aspects of our lives that we need to limit in order to live more and suffer less. Though it has its disadvantages, we should try to be moderate.
Thanks for reading.
| All images are mine |