Chisom Winifred: A Letter to Young Creatives

Young creatives, I know it’s hard for you to save. It’s hard because you are trying to be everything at the same time; an entrepreneur, a fashion enthusiast and socialite, a lifestyle connoisseur, a YouTube blogger and someone who goes on vacation at least once every year.

You want that well-balanced life, even in your early twenties. You want to wear good hair, designer clothes, good shoes, have business meetings over cocktails and overpriced food. You want to attend shows and festivals and own the latest iPhone with a MacBook.

Is this even wrong? To want nice things? To live a great life? You don’t think you’re balling too hard – after all, it’s not as if you have omelets and expensive drinks for breakfast every day.

It’s not wrong. It’s not wrong to want to be able to afford nice things. It’s not wrong to wear good hair, good clothes, take an uber every day, have cocktail-picture inspired meetings, use an iPhone X and still run a business all in your twenties.

It’s not wrong, but maybe you’re not being completely realistic.

It’s simply self-induced pressure. You just finished school, no uncle or aunt got you a job and you’re working it out on your own, some of these things will take a little more time.

However, it’s not completely your fault that you should feel this way. With the new world of social media and all, we now live in a fast-paced environment. Everybody seems to be doing great, buying Benz, proposing to their girlfriends in the most beautiful ways, buying houses and cars for their parents, rocking good shoes, going on vacations, getting verified on Instagram, and so on.

So here you are, trying to be diligent in your little beginning. You are dedicated to your business, giving your best at your craft and trying to save enough to invest in other things. But it’s honestly hard! Because you need a new shoe – that one shoe has appeared so much on your page. You need to use Uber to arrive at your meeting at that overpriced lounge. You need to keep up appearances. We haven’t talked about birthdays – where to celebrate them, professional pictures and all that. It’s really not easy.

Relax… you’re doing too much. You are trying to be everything at the same time and show that life is great. Not that life is not actually great for you, but not in the terms you quantify it with.

Take a breather and relax, you can’t keep living like this. You can’t always paint the perfect picture. It’s true that everyone is blowing and securing the bag on Instagram, but you’re not ‘everyone’. You’re you; you know yourself, where you are coming from, your dreams, your goals and what you hope to achieve.

I know that you want to do nice things for momsy, you want a big Instagram kind of wedding, you want to go to Dubai and live a little. But the truth is, you are doing well. More than you know. Outside the other standards we impose on ourselves, you are really trying.

Learn to grow again. Remember when you were in primary school and your needs and wants were primary in nature? Biscuits, sweets and unlimited TV time. Then in secondary school, your needs and wants matured to money, exam stress, school parties, and fine girlfriend.

That’s what we need – to take a step back from the undue pressure to ‘blow’ and give ourselves time to grow. Good things take time.

Identify the needs/wants of your current level and stick to it. The latest iPhone is great to have but let’s be honest, it’s just going to have to wait. Always ask, is this really a need? I tell you, you’ll save more.

Always remember, you’re doing just fine.