An experience that changed the narrative

I think the best way to really learn and understand is by experience. A lot of times that I have experienced stuff, I tend to learn faster and either adjust or continue with whatever I have learnt from those experiences.

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My Story

Sometime ago, I was on Twitter when I stumbled on a winning from someone who played a betting game. I was really amazed because that period I needed cash urgently. I quickly registered on the betting site and waited patiently for this punter to drop his game. He did and I played but with little amount of money. I won that game and headed straight to buy barbecue fish and cold plastic coke to wash it down. If you know me too well, you will understand how much I like enjoyment.

This punter always drops games with higher lines so if you want to cash out big, you have to play with big money. I refused to play more than my #100 naira because I didn't want stories that touch at the end of the day. That period I was winning with his games back to back.

And then he posted something about people who use small money to play games saying that they were just throwing chances away. I reasoned with him and thought he was right. I had played his games three times with my small #100. Now imagine if I had used a good amount of money to play I would have won something tangible.

My husband already warned me to stop playing and if at all I wanted to keep playing, I shouldn't allow greed make me put money that would make me cry if I lost. I nodded in agreement to his advice. I kept on with my #100. So one morning he dropped a game. I had 10 thousand naira with me. The evil spirit in me whispered into my ears. But because I had coconut head, I obliged the spirit. After all, all die na die.

My potential winnings was suppose to give me almost 2million naira cash out. I first wrote down the things I would buy with my money. I called my mum immediately to tell me what she wanted. She asked me how I got money and I told her that the God of surprise will soon surprise us. I played the game with the 10k my husband gave me to buy chicken for stew that evening.

After I played the game, I didn't bother to check it because I didn't want to give myself any sort of stress mentally. The last game was suppose to be by 4pm. Around 5pm, I checked the game and out of the 11 games, just two entered. If you see me that day, you would think I just had a fight with the spirits. I was sweating from head to toe. My whole body started shaking as if I had fever.What would I tell my husband?.

I quickly called my elder brother to explain what had happened to me. He was very mad at me but saved the day by transferring the money to me. I quickly went to buy the chicken. Since that day, if I see anything related to betting code anywhere, the kind of speed I use to run very far from it will tell you that I really had a bad experience that day. Never will I ever play any game again in my life. If they like, let their winnings be running in millions, I do not care. It is not me that they will give High blood pressure.

Source

In as much as I have had a bad experience, I have also experienced something really good. I was on transit some years ago when I realized that the money i had collected after I bought a bottle of water was torn. Like it was badly torn to the point that anyone who collects it just wants to help me not that it was something to even collect. I barely check the kind of money I receive after purchasing something. I am too care free when it comes to that. This particular day was one of those days as usual. I didn't remember to check it out.

It was time to pay and I politely showed the conductor the money. He told me that I was on my own because he didn't understand why I will be wicked enough to give him a badly torn money. In my mind, I imagined the kind of embarrassment I would receive that day. I silently prayed to God to hep me because I didn't want that kind of experience.

What even made me scared the more was that before I left the house, I heard over the news how a conductor killed a passenger because of change. That played badly in my head that I started imagining the scenario. I finally got to my destination and brought out the money again to give the guy. The guy just looked at me and asked me which church I attend. I told him and he said if not that he sees me as a calm person and because I am his church member, he would have dealt with me.

He left me and my money and the bus zoomed off. I gave a heavy sigh of relief. Indeed what God cannot do, does not exist. I took out few minutes to thank God in my mind before I continued my journey. Luckily there was an ATM machine close by. I quickly rushed in to withdraw some money which I used to transport myself for the rest of the journey.

That experience taught me to always scan money given to me. And today, before I leave your presence, I will look at the money front and back before I leave. That I was left to go my way that day doesn't mean that I will be lucky again the next time. It was an experience that taught me something good.

Experience or Textbooks?

I will choose experience over and over again because experience is like your shadow that cannot leave you but textbooks can not be more detailed than experience.

For instance, there are financial books that warns that investing more than you earn is bad. But people still go ahead to invest. But when they experience the negative outcome, they learn more because they have tasted it first hand.

This is my reaction to #hivelearners feature contest. You can check out details here to participate.