I remember counselling them, giving them my time, spending every last minute I had with them. I have never neglected or forsaken them. My past friendships hurt, I wish and pray that no one goes through what I have been through in life.

I wish I could take back time, but no it’s for the best, even Doug Ivester said, “never let your memories be greater than your dreams.”

I see every memory as if it happened minutes ago. I am just glad that it no longer hurts as much as it did before. As they say, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. It was about time that I accepted that I will never be loved or taken seriously in life. The fact that I was hurt by the ones I ate with in the same plates counts a lot. They knew all my secrets. They knew my background and my struggles, why them?

I remember my mother warning me. If only I had listened to her. As Proverbs 19:20 says, “listen to advice and accept correction, then in the end you will be wise.”

I was too busy making friends that I forgot my dreams and who I was. After everything I’ve done, I’ve cared for them, supported them, admired them but they never saw the essence of giving me the same love I gave them. They never cared. I needed them, especially in times of trouble. The saying, when days are dark, friends are few, is true. In my case, I didn’t have few friends, I had no friends.

Steven Ouellette said in his motivational book, “Learn to give yourself what you wish you could get from someone.” I learned that and I became wiser. I stopped visiting my friends and stopped falling for temptations. I only visited when they needed me. As time went by, I started to set my goals higher, dreaming big and focusing on my studies.

Even now I still can’t believe, things changed between me and my friends when I topped the whole class in EMS. Then recently everyone had bad things to say about me, I thought that only females had jealousy but no, I was wrong, even males do. I remember my friends calling me names saying that I am a witch, but I was cool with it because I knew my spirit irritated their demons.

One day one of my classmates cursed me and said, “you think you are beautiful mxm! I wish you could fall pregnant, you are forward, you think you’re everything, while you’re nothing!”

I couldn’t believe my ears, because the very same boy that cursed me is the very same that used to text me good morning massages, complementing my beauty telling me I have a great future and that I deserved someone to look after me, someone like him, and just because I refused to date him he cursed me.

I was not safe around my classmates. I remember one of them wrote about me on social media saying that I am an enemy they want me out of the class and the others supported her. My life was a mess, they even had special names for me, it was either hater or moloi, dependent on their mood. My mother never gave up on encouraging me to pray, it was tough to a point where I had no choice but to do so, because the teachers also turned their backs on me by believing my classmates’ lies.

I am proud to say God answered my prayers as he always says in the Bible to trust Him. Remember to be careful when it comes to friends, because they come to you as a friend knowing that they are the leaders of your enemies. (Ba tla go wena jwalo ka bagwera empa ele bona manaba a gago a magolo). Before making friends with people ask yourself will this friendship benefit you?

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Tell us: Do you believe it is important to choose your friends wisely?