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I Watched My Best Friend's Business Blow Up While I Was Stuck in Ilorin. I Could Not Celebrate Her.
S
Spiral Hornbill from Yola
3 months ago
Back in 2021, I was 29, still in Ilorin, still doing the same tailoring job I had since my NYSC. My best friend, Bisi, was in Lagos, and every single month she was sending me screenshots: new contracts, new shop, new car. I would type "congratulations" and my fingers would be shaking. Omo, the jealousy was eating me raw. We grew up together in the same compound. Same secondary school, same everything. When she said she was going to Lagos to hustle, I told myself she would come back in two years with nothing. Instead, she blew. Me, I was still here, patching people's clothes for 1,500 naira, still living with my mother because rent was a joke. The day she sent me a video of her new boutique in Lekki, I did something I am not proud of. I laughed. Not with her, at her. I said the shop looked small and the location was bad. She went quiet. I knew I had hurt her. I felt a small satisfaction, and then I felt like the worst person on earth. It took me another year to admit to myself that I was not happy for her because her success made my own failure too loud. We don't talk as much now. She still calls sometimes, but I always have an excuse. The truth is, I am not jealous of Bisi. I am angry at myself for being too scared to leave Ilorin. Her win was not an attack on me. It was a mirror. And I couldn't look at it. If you have a friend who is succeeding and you feel that sting, check yourself. That sting is not about them. It is about the life you are not living. The day you can celebrate someone else's blessing with a clean heart, that is the day you are ready for your own.
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