The more he grumbled, the more I felt
edged. And the only ones who were ever
the objects of his anger were me and
the children. He would say words that
crippled me; words that would pierce my
heart like a sliver and I would also
manoeuvre ways to bounce back.
In less than a year, I had a history
of divorce to my name and an inheritance I never wanted to leave for my
children. I was alone again and had to find
my way back to life, again.
It’s funny how I viewed the world when I
used to have vast platters before me.
I was just an ordinary lady in her prime
20s, trying to define life like an eightyear-old would.
This cookie we call life has a funny way
of crumbling, from a cloud-nine standard
to nothing! I cursed under the thought of
Greg and how deceptive he was.
As time welled by, I got a job at a small
fancy coffee shop as a receptionist. The
job was not my ideal kind but it was
enough to put food on the table for my
children. I took another job as a bartender at a local near my 2-bed-roomed
apartment and life as you know it began
to unfold.
A woman has to
“learn
that she cannot
command things, but
that she can command
herself
”
It all started with a couple shots and before I knew it, I was a full-time alcoholic.
My solace was that alcohol was an outlet
for me to bury my frustrations but I was
wrong.
As if that was not enough, my children
were taken away from me by the social
workers in our local community because
I had taken to roaming the streets with
them.
Each time I let my soul flow with the
sharp liquid, I found myself diving into
a dark valley. I could see that my life had
spiralled out of control and that there
was nothing left to it. I became a bitter
person and was emotionally abusive to my
children. My drinking habit escalated to a
point where I was unable to pay rent and
got evicted.
It is then that I realized how much life had
thrashed me and you see, sometimes when
you hit rock bottom, you come into a deep
connection with your inner self.
A wo/man has to learn that he cannot command things, but that he can
command himself; that he cannot coerce
the will of others but that he can mould
and master his own will and things serve
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