I am not proud of this.

I am inspired to write personal jokes today, sometimes I look at myself today and ask, is this me? I have changed a lot from who I use to be a long time ago and I must say that I am proud of myself. If I was to choose between the former George and the current George, I will definitely choose the new me.

I used to be a fearless kid when I was younger, I wasn't very scared of things that kids my age were scared of. I remembered attempting to kill a snake when I was 12 years old but I couldn't and I went on to kill one when I was 13 during an agriculture practical in secondary school.

I was full of life, a lot of people usually don't believe I was a boy of that age, and despite all my energy and strength, there was one thing that makes me very weak and humble.
As little as this thing was, I respect myself at the sight of it even though it has nothing to do with me.

Can you guess what it was?
I bet you can't, tell me at the end of the post if you think you guessed it right.

Injection was my biggest fear as a kid and that tiny thing did disgrace me a lot of times, it baffles me then how my younger brother who was scared of cockroaches would take 2-3 injections without blinking and it is the other way round for me.

I remembered being sent home from school on that day because I wasn't feeling good and my mom took me to the clinic very close to my school immediately.

Due to my fear of injection, I was on high alert. My eyes were rolling in all directions because I thought I would be attacked with the injection by a nurse, I was restless and I felt the illness leaving my body immediately after we got there. I told mom that I was fine already but she insisted that we saw the doctor, something kept telling me that the meeting won't end well.

I sat down patiently with my mom and it got to our turn, my legs were shaking as we walked into the office. The doctor was a woman, she asked me a series of questions and even played with me.

She told us to hold on and went to pick a small object from an iron case, I was following her every step. She was approaching me, I stood up and moved back but her eyes were fixed on me, and I thought she wanted to give me an injection straight away.

I didn't know what was in her hand so I went on my knees and begged her not to give me an injection, she stretched out her hand to show me what she was holding.

She gently said, "it is a thermometer, I just want to check your temperature". It won't hurt you.

Something told me it was a trick to inject me, I have only seen thermometers in books so I wasn't even sure of what she was holding and I don't know the medical procedures. I was crying and sweating, my mom was pissed already.

You can't blame me because that was my first time in the hospital, we were raised with herbs except for the issue that demands seeing a doctor and I have never had a reason to go to the hospital; my brother was the regular there.

I stood up and ran out of the clinic since the doctor wouldn't hear my plea, I was outside the clinic crying and begging them not to give me an injection. Few aged nurses assured me that it wasn't an injection so they took me back,

the expression on my mom's face wasn't friendly. She would have beaten me up if not for my health but she had to endure the drama I displayed, the nurses held me down before they could check my temperature.

The thermometer was placed in my armpit and removed in a few seconds, I had my eye closed but I could feel the object because it was cool.

The doctor said she was done and I felt ashamed, so all the drama I performed was just to put something in my armpit and removed it. I looked at the doctor with a fake smile and she started laughing, the nurses and my mom joined her too.

I was ashamed and felt reluctant to leave the doctor's office because lots of people inside and outside the clinic saw me doing my drama, and I knew they will laugh at me even though they don't know what I went through within that short time.

Years after, some government medical organizations were going to schools to give injections for immunization. It was easy to dodge it, you just need to lie about your age which I successfully did.

I couldn't imagine disgracing myself in Jss 3, I was calm and didn't bother myself since I already lied about my age. My language teacher was close to my family, she saw me walk passed the staff room and she asked if I have gotten the injection, I quietly said yes.

I didn't know that the lady who wanted to give me the injection earlier was in the staff room having a conversation with the principal, she looked back and said " he doesn't fall in that age bracket".

The teacher didn't allow her land before asking, "Which age bracket?. George is a small boy, don't mind his height".

At that point, I knew there was a problem. The lady got interested in my case and said she will give me the injection personally, my heart start racing. (It seems she already know I was scared of injections).

She started by teasing me that a big boy like me shouldn't be scared of needles but those words didn't work for me, I was trying my possible best not to obey my brain because it was telling me to run.

I stayed calm until the moment she tapped the needle head, I didn't know where the tears came from.

I begged her not to do it, she said it wouldn't hurt me, and the teachers were laughing at me. I am happy it wasn't in the presence of other students, it would have been a different story for me.

After a long conversation, I eventually got the shot in my arm.

My school uniform was semi-wet and my classmates were curious about why I stayed so long in the staff room, I couldn't tell them anything and I was praying my teachers never mentioned it in class.

I have changed a lot now, I am still scared of needles but I don't react childishly anymore, I hide my fears more maturely.

Lead image.