“Waking up to the pile of clothes and dishes to wash, coupled with the tons of assignments she had to finish, Bisade felt overwhelmed and frustrated. They were clothes from two weeks ago and the dishes from two nights ago. She had continued scrolling Social Media and kept indulging and reveling in movies, completely ignoring the tiny voices that kept reminding her of the tasks she had neglected so far. Now the challenge is how she would be able to finish; washing a mountain of clothes, washing the dishes, cooking food for the day, finishing five bulky assignments, preparing for the next day’s class, and reading four weeks’ academic work in less than twenty-four hours.
Two weeks ago, she felt very tired and decided to do these things later; not knowing specifically when. However, one thing kept coming up after another, and Bisade kept pushing them forward for a later day. Now, her room was an entire mess and she was out of clothes to wear. She finally decided to start work on them, but where was she to start from? The clothes; she would have opted to dry clean them but she was currently low on cash. Then should she wash the dishes first? They were too dirty and they irritated her. How about she start with her assignments? They were too bulky and she was sure she could not finish any of them that day. But she had to do something. Feeling mentally drained, she laid on her bed, picked up her phone, and continued surfing the net.
Monday came, and her coursemates called to check in on her since she was not in class. However, she replied that she was only feeling a bit under the weather and they need not worry. Bisade felt like crying because of her deplorable state but still had not decided on where to start. All she did was blame herself over and over and over again, as she covered herself in her quilt, indulging in the warmth of her bed despite her distorted mental state. She received a call from her mother the previous day but only replied to her with a message that she was in class.
Two weeks have passed and nobody has heard from her. Her coursemates, worried about her and not being able to reach her, reported to the appropriate school authority, who in turn phoned her parents. Finally, the Police were involved as no one could reach her. Her parents had to travel down from their hometown to Ibadan upon receiving information about her from the police. She was found in her room amidst the dirt and mess; comatose. Bisade after recovering from a series of illnesses as a result of her living condition, was later diagnosed with a mild mental disorder and ultimately had to drop out of school till she regained control of her mind.”
Bolade held back tears as she narrated her own story to her granddaughter, who was about to leave for the university. Back then, she could not have taught that simply procrastinating could have an adverse and indelible effect on her life. Only if she had known! Only if she had not been so lazy! Only if she had been more serious with her life! Would she have become a great person in life? No one ever believes her when she tells them that the President was once her course mate, or that the richest woman in the country was once her close friend. After all, they all knew her as someone who did not see the four walls of a university, so how could she possibly be believed? They sometimes speculated that she must be having a screw loose again. Only if she had made hay while her sun shone.
