Hello friends. It’s 8th of August once again. It’s my BIRTHDAY!🥳🧁🎁🎉

8th of August is always a special day in my life, and I want to share a special message with you that will lift your spirit.

It’s about standing your ground against bitterness. Yes, I want to encourage you to say NO to bitterness!

Since I grew up to know my right hand from the left, and to differentiate between the right and the wrong, I have since known that bitterness is a destructive spirit if it is allowed to fester.

 I have come across a lot of people whose destinies have been truncated, so to speak, for the simple reason that they embraced bitterness when it came calling, instead of resisting it steadfastly.

Reasons Why People Become Bitter

There are so many justifiable reasons why a person should be bitter.

Some people have every reason to be bitter because they never had a normal childhood.

Perhaps they didn’t receive proper care or treatment as they grew up.

For instance, I know a particular young lady who constantly has mood swings and carries about a bitter spirit because she was serially raped when she was a teenager.

She felt she could have avoided the tragedy if her parents had been more caring and protective.

For this reason, she became bitter towards her parents and it’s very unpleasant to hang around her.

For some, the root of their bitterness is a break of trust or betrayal.

People in this category are the type that swear never to trust anybody again.

Such was the case of a young lady who contemplated suicide when her fiance broke up with her a few days to their wedding.

Some other justifiable reasons why many people allow bitterness to fester are:

• The blunders or mistakes they made either by consent or ignorance
• Disappointment by family members or people they trust
• Unjust treatment by their lecturers or teachers
• When nobody believes in them and their dreams
• Repeated failure in spite of many attempts to succeed.
• Delay or lack of progress

These are the typical causes of bitterness in people. The list is inexhaustible.

My Personal Experience

During my undergraduate days, I remember visiting a lecturer’s office to request her to help sign my library card slip because that was the custom at that time.

Her response was so demeaning that it played in my head for many days and almost weighed me down!

She yelled at me, “You can equally go and give your mother at home to sign for you!”

That was the most demeaning response anybody can get from a lecturer! The intent was to get me in a bitter mood against myself and that lecturer!

But I will tell you the truth about the matter: instead of getting offended and becoming bitter, I decided to take charge of the situation.

My response to that lecturer neutralised the ember of bitterness that day. I simply responded, “I am so sorry ma. Can I come later ma?”

It was possible I had approached that lecturer in her worst mood, and that elicited the outburst of provocative language from her.

However, the way I reacted to the whole scenario saved the day.

I must have triggered something positive in her when I calmly said “Sorry ma…” I knew better than to look bewildered or shocked when she insulted me.

I knew that two wrongs cannot make a right.

And the result? She signed my form that same moment and I left her office.

Please don’t misunderstand me at all. I actually was tempted to get offended the moment that lecturer offended me, but then, I thought to myself she is human.

Do you know that in a matter of time, myself and that lecturer became so close that she took me as her daughter?

And I would later learn a lot of things from her wealth of knowledge!

The question is, what if I had become bitter towards her because of that initial experience?

no matter what people have done to you,  you can choose forgiveness and love over bitterness.

Lesson To Take Home

What am I driving at in this article?

The morale is that no matter what people have done to you, or how they’ve made you feel, you can choose forgiveness and love over bitterness.

Let Me Hear From You

I want to hear your own side of the story. Please drop your comment below.

Share with me how you overcame the root of bitterness or how someone you know overcome bitterness.

And what’s more? Today, 8th August is my birthday!

Don’t forget to wish me a HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎂🎁🎊

And don’t forget to drop your gift at the reception 😀