Childhood is one of the most memorable parts of our lives, filled with so much experience, memories, and lessons from different aspects ranging from parents, elders, and personal experience. Personally, I've got loads of memories and habits that were adopted during childhood and are still very active in my life today. Today, I'll share one of them with you.
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The habit that could also be seen as a lesson was the ability not to fall asleep without concluding anything I'm doing, regardless of how tired, exhausted, or engrossed I'm in other activities. This habit was adopted after a serious incident that got most of our properties destroyed, and my elder brother received the punishment of his life for the negligence that led to that.
It happened that mom and dad went to church for a program in the evening and instructed my elder brother to keep some of the soup warm when it's about 8 p.m., so when mom comes back, she just needs to cook the main meal so we can all eat and go to bed. My brother, because he was feeling dizzy, decided to perform the task 30 minutes earlier, but unfortunately, while the soup was still on the stove, he went to the parlor and fell asleep.
Things went south when the stove got too heated and the fire caught some of the plastic around it. Before we realized what was going on, the kitchen was burning and full of smoke. Rather than cry for help when he woke up, he simply walked into the bathroom to carry water in a small bowl with the hope of quenching the fire with it. I joined in, but that wasn't making any difference; fortunately, our parents met us in that act and quickly cried for help, and within some minutes, neighbors helped us out of the fire.
After the fire was quenched, dad locked the door and flogged the hell out of my brother for his negligence, though I wasn't flogged because I was much younger, but I felt my brother's pain and vowed within me never to sleep off without concluding anything I'm doing, no matter how tired I'm, and it's surprising that even though I was very young then, yet thereafter I never slept off without checking if all electrical switches are off, if the door is shut, and every other appliance. Sometimes my family falls asleep while watching TV, but I'm always active enough to switch it off before I can sleep peacefully.
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Moving forward now that I'm older, that habit and lesson adopted from the experience I had in my childhood have, on several occasions, gone on to save the day. Take, for instance, a day I paid a visit to one of my relatives, and while I was there, I realized they usually forgot to close the main door when it was night, but while I was there, I made sure to close it each time before I went to sleep. After a few days of my stay with them, they were talking and said their food items hadn't been missing since I came around, and they were wondering why the sudden change, given that such this used to happen regularly prior to my arrival.
I smiled and remembered that I'd been the one closing the main door throughout my days there. I told them that could be the reason, and probably one of their neighbors has already noticed their negligence and usually comes in while they're sleeping to cart away some of their food items. After that, they've been closing the door and attest to the fact that such never happened again after I left, meaning that someone usually sneaks into the house while they're sleeping due to the open door.
The family even nick-names me Chief Security for the way I usually act before I sleep. Though it seems funny, they appreciate it, and I'm also glad I adopted that habit.
That's about all the habits and lessons I learned in my childhood that are now having a significant impact on my life as an adult. The writeup was inspired by the hive learners community features prompt. Thanks so much for your time. Have a wonderful weekend.
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