I am the last child in my family and the only son, with three elder sisters. God sent me to my parents seven years after their third girl. Growing up, I was a typical example of an extrovert. I was an outgoing, talkative and carefree child who didn’t hold back with expressing himself.
But it was difficult for my family to understand and accept my personality. They always shut me up whenever I was in one of my talkative moods. They called me stupid, big head and idiot, often telling me to keep quiet because I ‘talked too much’ and was being a nuisance to them.
So I bottled up my feelings for a long time until I cried to my mum one day, intending to tell her exactly how I felt. I needed her to understand how pained I was by the abusive words that she and my sisters habitually hurled at me. After expressing myself with words and tears, while my sisters were with my mum, my mum said, ‘You are stupid o, you need prayers’.
And that was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The experience made me despise women with a passion, and for a very long time, I had no female friends. I struggled with an inferiority complex and hated the sight or company of girls, especially beautiful ones. It was even more unfortunate for the women who had a crush on me. They felt the extent of my anger towards women. And I vowed never to get married.
After a while, I met a woman who changed everything when we became friends. She did what other women had not been able to do: she passed through the walls I had built around myself. She gave me reasons to let go and embrace the female folk. That woman became my wife, and today my story is different. We are happily married and blessed with two beautiful daughters that I love so much.