Soft Life Dreams, Real Life Math

Making a big girl salary in today’s Nigeria is a strange experience.

As a teenager and young adult I had a number in my head. A salary that meant I had finally arrived. It felt like the point where life would become softer, decisions would get easier and money would stop feeling like something I had to constantly think about.

Now I earn more than I thought and I still find myself negotiating with reality every month.

The lifestyle I worked for does not look dramatic from the outside. It is actually quite ordinary. A life where you are trying to be responsible while still enjoying the small comforts that make adulthood feel bearable. The challenge is that the cost of that ordinary life keeps shifting upward.

Maintaining myself as a woman in this economy is not just about survival. It is about presentation, confidence and care. Looking put together has its own financial weight. Feeling put together does too. Even the quiet things that help me reset after long weeks come with a hefty price tag attached.

There is also the version of me that simply wants to enjoy life. The one that books a hotel or trip just to enjoy solitude, buys something pretty for no particular reason or plans a quick trip to the bookstore. That version is not excessive. It is human.

What has changed is not my desire for a good life. It is the pressure around sustaining it while still being financially wise. I've done my research and many of the people I know are earning more than we ever thought, yet the space to breathe financially does not always match the effort we put in.

There is a quiet tension that comes with this reality. I want to be disciplined. I want to be free. I want to enjoy the present without feeling like I am sabotaging my future. I want to feel like my income reflects my effort in a way that is visible and lasting. I want to lowo, I want to lola, I want to lalafia 😭

The truth is that a big salary today does not automatically translate to comfort for me. It simply creates more decisions. It makes me more aware of what it takes to maintain the life I'm building.

So the definition of a big girl salary has started to shift for me. It is no longer about reaching a figure that changes everything overnight. It is about what that figure allows me to manage intentionally. It is about the balance between enjoying my life now and building something stable for later.

In this Nigeria, earning more is only one part of the story. What really matters is how well you can make it stretch across who you are becoming.

Get your PVC and vote wisely please. Let things get better for us!