I should probably reply to that email now oo…nah, I’ll handle it later.
Ah, and he asked me to send the samples as soon as possible…omo, that one can wait until Monday please.
I should call my dad too; it has been a while.
Sigh. I’ll do it later.
At some point, I realized that “I’ll handle it later” had become the unofficial slogan of my adult life. It showed up in everything…unread messages, postponed appointments, unfinished plans and especially money. I kept telling myself I would save, invest, and become financially responsible next month. Somehow, next month kept moving like Lagos traffic.
The funny thing is procrastination always sounds responsible in your head. You agree, right?
‘I’m convinced that I’m not avoiding the problem, I’m simply waiting for the right time’. When salary is better. When work is less stressful. When life feels softer. That same mindset followed into my finances, where every plan for stability kept getting pushed behind more immediate needs and the occasional “small enjoyment” that felt harmless in the moment.
Salary would come in and disappear almost immediately. Transport, bills, family responsibilities, lunch runs that somehow turned into full financial decisions, and those random online purchases you swear are necessary because you have “had a long week.” I kept waiting for the perfect time to get serious about money, as if adulthood would send me a formal invitation. Instead, I was downstairs at work one afternoon, pricing lunch like it was a life decision, when my boss asked why I looked stressed.
I told her I was tired of working every day and still negotiating with rice. She laughed and said something I still think about. “You people think salary is enjoyment money. Salary is supposed to buy you peace.” Then she asked how long I could survive if salary stopped coming in that day. I did not answer because panic would have started almost immediately.
That was the unforgettable lesson I learned from my boss. I had been treating salary like a monthly rescue mission instead of a tool. She made me realize that work should not just pay bills; it should help build options. Since then, I have been more intentional about saving, more curious about investing, and far less committed to the lie of “I’ll handle it later”.
Now I know later is expensive. The things we postpone quietly have a way of returning loudly, usually when they cost more than they should. Adulthood has taught me that peace rarely comes from avoidance. Most times, it comes from handling it now.
You don’t really “arrive” at responsibility; you build into it, one decision at a time. So now, when “I’ll handle it later” shows up, I try to answer it differently. Not perfectly, not all at once but sooner, more honestly, and with the understanding that every small step today is a deposit into the kind of life I won’t have to escape from tomorrow. Because in the end, the real flex is not just earning; it’s having peace of mind that your money, your time, and your choices are finally working for you, not against you. So, my dear friends, resist the urge to postpone it, handle it now.
