(A room. Soft lighting. Four young women. Phones on the table. Laughter fading into a real conversation.)
Tola is the first to speak.
“I saw someone’s post today.”
Nobody looks up immediately. They’re all on their phones.
“She just bought a house.”
That gets their attention.
Ada looks up. “At our age?”
Tola nods.
“House-warming pictures. Family there. Champagne. Everything.”
Zainab whistles softly. “Love that for her.”
“Same,” Tola says quickly.
Then she pauses.
“But also…”
She doesn’t finish the sentence.
She doesn’t need to.
Mfon looks at her.
“But also… what?”
Tola exhales.
“I thought I’d be further by now.”
Silence.
Just… heavy.
Ada drops her phone.
“Wow. You said it out loud.”
Zainab laughs softly. “Because we all think it.”
Mfon leans forward slightly.
“Further how?”
Tola shrugs. “I don’t even know again.”
She starts counting on her fingers.
“Career-wise… I thought I’d be more stable.”
“Financially… I thought I’d have more.”
“Life-wise… I thought I’d be more… sure.”
She pauses.
“Everything just feels like I’m still figuring it out.”
Ada nods slowly. “Same.”
“I thought by now I’d have one clear direction. Not this… trial and error lifestyle.”
Zainab adds, “Nobody told us adulthood would feel like guessing and hoping you’re not making a mistake.”
Mfon smiles a little.
“That’s because everybody is packaging it.”
They all laugh.
Because it’s true.
“Social media is not helping,” Ada says. “Everyone is either winning or announcing something.”
“New job.”
“New car.”
“Relocation.”
“Engagement.”
“And you’re just there like…” she gestures vaguely.
“Existing,” Zainab finishes.
“Try not to be on LinkedIn”, Tola says.
Everyone laughs.
“But the crazy part,” Mfon says, “is that even the people posting those things are probably still figuring things out too.”
“Exactly,” Tola says. “But it doesn’t feel like that when you’re scrolling.”
Another pause.
“I think the pressure is not even from people,” Ada says quietly.
“It’s from the version of life we imagined for ourselves.”
That lands.
Mfon nods slowly.
“The timelines we created in our heads.”
“Graduate by this age.”
“Get a good job by this age.”
“Be stable by this age.”
“And when it doesn’t happen like that…” she trails off.
“You feel behind,” Zainab says.
Tola leans back.
“But what if nobody actually knows what they’re doing?”
They all laugh again.
“Seriously,” she continues. “What if we’re all just trying things and adjusting as we go?”
Mfon smiles.
“Then maybe… we’re not behind.”
She pauses.
“Maybe we’re just… on a different timeline than we expected.”
Silence again.
Ada stretches.
“So what are we supposed to do now?”
Mfon shrugs.
“I don’t know.”
She smiles.
“But maybe we stop measuring our lives with timelines we created when we didn’t even understand life.”
Zainab nods. “That sounds like something I need to unlearn.”
Mfon looks around the room one more time.
“Let me ask you something.”
She pauses.
“Do you actually feel behind…”
“Or are you just comparing your real life to someone else’s highlight?”
Everyone has Thier pace, just be sure you’re doing the right thing, we’ll all get what we desire