Becoming in Paris : How We Want to Live
Two weeks in the Middle East for work — between Dubai, Cairo, and Riyadh — put me back into a familiar rhythm: scanning malls, lifestyle compounds, trending places, festivals, museums, even the pyramids. Everything felt intense, accelerated, optimized. Cities designed for movement, consumption, ambition.
Coming back, I found myself questioning — consciously — the city and the country I’ve chosen for the past fifteen years to build my adulthood, my family, and my career: Paris, France
Metropolitan cities like Dubai or Jakarta evolve at a breathtaking pace. Opportunities appear fast; businesses rise quickly and can disappear just as fast. Someone is always richer, faster, better connected. If you have the right idea and know the right people, financial success can follow — sometimes spectacularly.
France works differently. Salaries are less competitive, taxes are high, and upward financial acceleration is slower. The middle class remains large and stable, even when you earn what would be considered a “good” salary elsewhere. I’ve seen the contrast firsthand — friends in Jakarta with master’s degrees from top universities earning more than I did in Paris at the same age.
And yet, over time, I’ve come to understand that luxury goes far beyond financial gain.
Firstly, I’ve experienced France’s social systems when I needed them most. During a sudden ectopic pregnancy in 2020, and later through countless medical and dental visits, I was met with care that was accessible, reliable, and never conditional on my bank account.
Then, when my daughter was born, France revealed another layer of quiet strength: a sense of collective safety. Childcare professionals I trust. Public playgrounds woven into neighborhoods. Streets where walking feels natural, not strategic.
These experiences made a few things very clear to me : Health is non-negotiable. Living in a country with a strong healthcare system brings peace of mind that money alone cannot buy — especially as a woman, and even more as a mother. I wouldn’t want to give birth, or live the fragile first months of motherhood, anywhere else.
Exposure to different cultures and people enriches a life beyond measure. Living in a capital like Paris makes this continuous and effortless.
Safety and access to the outdoors are privileges we often underestimate. In Dubai, outdoor family spaces are limited, planned, and constrained by distance and traffic. In Jakarta? They are non existant. You don’t simply walk downstairs to a neighborhood park. Spontaneity has a cost.
As a new year begins, I find joy in small, ordinary moments: walking downstairs on a chilly morning to buy groceries, taking my daughter to look at Christmas window displays on a whim. These gestures are modest, but they feel deeply luxurious.
Having enough money matters. But what truly sustains daily life is a system that aligns with your values — one that supports care, time, safety, and presence.
I’ve lived many versions of life: a childhood on remote islands that taught me the importance of outdoor memories, formative years in Jakarta that instilled ambition and discipline, and adulthood in Paris that brought balance to it all. Today, I know I wouldn’t trade this for another capital where life is measured in traffic or where illness comes with financial fear.
Nothing is ever perfect. And you can’t know what truly suits you until you’ve lived it.
But I am deeply grateful for where I am — and for how I get to live.
