Chances are, if you open your TikTok feed right now, there will be an influencer with glossy skin and freshly done nails telling you to come along to get her hair braided.

Following a clip of her pouting at the camera, she will then show the camera how backed up the traffic in front of her Uber is, because she is hashtag relatable.

After she arrives at the salon and her hair is done in approximately forty single braids, interwoven with the stringiest curls you’ve ever seen, she will then tell you how “worth it” it was to get her hair done for ₦100k.

One. Hundred. Thousand. Naira.

At this point, you will close the app and throw your phone into a pot of soup and begin to warm it on the stove, since we are all playing games here.

Social media (specifically in Nigeria) rarely reflects what the average reality looks like.

The truth is, most Nigerians are struggling to make ends meet. Between looking for a job, taking 3 digital courses, and/or rushing to meet deadlines on one job before your other boss notices you’re absent, the only time you have to “enjoy life” is probably the hour after you finish laundry on Saturdays – after that, you have to get to ironing and putting it all away for the week.

Rinse and repeat.

Most Nigerians don’t have trust funds or weighty bank accounts – at this point, even sugar daddies are asking for receipts – but that doesn’t mean your life has to look like spoiled vegetable soup.

It is out of this grim reality that we bring forth some tips - sage words of wisdom, if you will – you can implement to give your life some of the oomph it deserves.

Sit, young onion, let us teach you how to romanticise your life – even with Tinubu managing your bank account for you.

Make sleep an event

There are some things everyone, regardless of status or standing, does.

Sleep is one of them.

Why not elevate the experience? After all, if you have a bad night, chances are, you will have a bad day.

Start with the sheets

There is nothing more luxurious than the feeling of getting into a bed with fresh, crisp sheets. If you have only one set, make washing your sheets a weekly thing, and if you have multiple, change them weekly.

Feeling extra? Sprinkle some essential oils on your sheets just after you make your bed in the morning, so when night comes, you retreat into a cloud of subtle scent. Check out Httperfumes for discounted designer fragrances. Yum!

Make nightly showers a personal ritual

After you’ve gone through the effort of washing your sheets, making your bed, and spraying your perfume, won’t you at least be clean before you lie in it? Take it a step further and make it a little spa session.

Switch off the lights, put a chill playlist/podcast on, turn off notifications, light a candle, lather up, and acknowledge your main character-ness in that moment. You deserve moments of calm that are tailored for you. Plus, warm showers are proven relaxers, which means better sleep.

Feeling extra? Make a body scrub from raw honey and granulated sugar for your shower. Write in your journal (from Good Mood Tribe, maybe?). Turn off the lights in your room, and burn some incense so when you get out, it’s dark and slightly smoky – just the right atmosphere for intimacy. With yourself, obviously. 

Food should be an experience

Maybe you can only afford lunch at Lantees once in a while, but what about the everyday?

Drink everything out of fancy/interesting glasses

Even Milo becomes elevated when you drink it out of a mason jar with ice. Have some water in a wine glass with an orange slice. Sip zobo from a glass cup and top it off with a cinnamon stick for the aesthetic. Check out Kitchenthrift for your next favourite mug, and sip tea while you work.

People on Twitter have dubbed it – tea – a “class signifier” anyway.

Plate your meals Asian style

In many East Asian cuisines, meals are built around a central dish of steamed rice, often accompanied by multiple small side dishes. This makes even the most basic meals seem elegant and intentional – everything is spread out and plated individually, like a personal buffet.

The concept is easy to replicate;

Rice and beans with beef stew: rice goes in the largest bowl, while the stew and beef go in smaller, accompanying bowls. You can even cut up the meat, so eating is a breeze. Luxury really is the little things.

It’s the same thing if it were pounded yam, soup, stew and meat. Plate each element individually, and see how it makes each meal feel like a little feast. You’re welcome.

Have fruit with your meals (if you can)

This piggybacks off of the last tip, reserve a small bowl for an orange or two and divide it into quarters. Instantly Insta-worthy.

Fruity feast: What’s more intentional than a balanced bounty?

Soundtrack your life

How can you be the main character if you don’t have a soundtrack? (Unless you’re hearing impaired, then ride on to the next section, dear)

Always have something playing

Filling your space with sound, thumping bass or soft furniture music, is one of the easiest ways to romanticise your life. Even if you don’t want to make a playlist of your own, piano music helps boost romantic moods (if this is your vibe, check out Ahmad’s dark academia playlist on Apple Music and Spotify), afrobeats/house is great for when you want some energy, and some R&B sets the mood to yearn.

You know what? check out The Purple Jazz if you’re really about that playlist life.

Make playlists for niche moments specific to you

Yes, yes, Spotify and Apple Music have their sleep, chill and work playlists, but do they accurately capture how you feel when you’re walking to the bus stop in the morning? The ginger you need when you’re blasting through sets at the gym? The chaotic disaster of commuting through a rainy standstill in your city?

Taking time to curate playlists that reflect your experiences, and naming them accordingly – “Rainy afternoon in Abuja”, “Sunday run”, “Main character: Walking in public” – is top-tier self-love.

Explode in your space

When you’re up and busy, or even a young adult still living at home, it can be easy to forget that the space you inhabit is yours, and you have the power to personalise – read; romanticise – your experience in that space.

How?

Print and put up art/posters/drawings/pictures on your walls

Personal touches like this are the difference between a storage crate and the bedroom of a human being with a personality. You can even buy a small canvas and watercolours and make it a fun activity. Scenes when you’re bragging to your friends about how you “commissioned” the art in your room. Maybe check out Arteasy to get started…

Elevate the ambience with mood lighting

Ambience: When working on a screen in a dark room, place light (a lamp, maybe) behind the screen to alleviate eye-strain. You’re welcome. 

There are few things as cinematic as varying lighting options in your space; Line underneath your bedframe or walls with LED strip lights, splurge on a little galaxy projector or golden hour sun lamp, want to take things up a notch? switch out your regular light bulbs for those that cycle through different colors – its both functional and aesthetic.

We think you’ll like things at Decor and More, check them – and more – out in our Index.

Wash your curtains and open the windows

Windows are your biggest source of ventilation and natural light, and we all know that natural light makes any space look both larger and prettier.

We don’t make the rules.

Anyway, make it a habit to open the curtains and windows first thing in the morning, as a way to invite fresh air and light into your space.

Transcorp Hilton no do pass this one nau. 

Feeling extra? Spray some perfume/essential oils on your curtains to curate even the air that enters your space. Doesn’t get more extra than that, really.

Become an upcycling interior designer.

They said charity begins at home.

We say, so can interior decor; Turn empty wine bottles into flower vases, use empty jam jars to display interesting rocks you find/marbles, use empty candle jars/tins as cotton swab holders, use old tomato paste tins to house your plants, use old ankara as table cloth/pillow cases, use a thin plastic bowl for a pendant light…

Upcycle: Old jam jars turned into a cotton wool holder and a container for Turare wuta (incense), with an old candle glass serving as its chamber.

There are so many ways you can repurpose and romanticise old things, you just have to open your mind to the possibilities.

Use your best things on random days – you only live once

Another day has ended, that new shirt, you’re still waiting for the “right time” to wear it, abi?

It is well.

You’d better start wearing your clothes. When the special moments come, they come, and if they don’t, they don’t.

Don’t postpone enjoyment for anyone or anything; every day is the right time to make yourself feel good. Use that special candle, wear that dress, spritz that perfume.

Aren’t they yours? Toh.

If you’re looking for how to give yourself a pat on the back, you can check out our enjoyment guide in the index. Of course, we have one.

So…

Enjoying everyday life is about elevating mundane experiences. Make it a challenge: how can I make myself more excited about the little things? 

Anyways, apart from our enjoyment guide, we also collated The Small Joys Index, where you can find things that will help you settle into your own life just a little bit more.

No need to thank us, dear (there is, but we’re being modest).

The Small Joys Index