Beating Euphoria

“Do not get caught up in the Euphoria and fail to apply yourself early enough”

A lecturer said this to a class of about 400 students in my second year of varsity. It stuck with me for years and I occasionally relay the same advice to those who permit me to be an influence in their lives.

Euphoria is defined as “affective state of exaggerated well-being or elation”. In my words, Euphoria is a state of exaggerated happiness or satisfaction

My lecturer then referred to the euphoria derived from being part of the university, studying engineering. “Exaggerated” acts as a qualifier that makes Euphoria unique.

You know that exaggerated feeling of well-being when you pass a first test? Or do something for the first time. That on-top-of-the-world feeling is Euphoria.

Euphoria in Relationships – #NoNewFriends

For the less socially awkward, meeting new people and getting to know them gives joy. You hear phrases like, “I met this awesome guy/girl”. Soon enough, on getting to “smell the coffee” as they say, we see beyond the hype, beyond the first meeting, and the elation wanes.

At times, it may be that a test situation has occurred, or new discoveries have been made which are not as wonderful as when we put our best foot forward. We consider get-away options, all cause we got caught up in the hype and in the not so distant feature discovered it wasn’t worth being elated about. What then do we do?

#NoNewFriends was a popular phrase in 2013. It was a motto made popular by the YMCMB movement. The concept behind it is basically this: friends who have been tested and proven true are enough, no disruptions allowed.

Flawed as the concept may be, it has a basis. It is a coping method.

Euphoria in Nations – #TheNigeriaProject

For a while, I’ve heard a lot about the decline of Nigeria. How we’ve failed from our glory days. My father’s generation talks of how we had the “best” universities at one point, “best” infrastructure and what not. Is that truly the case?

The first 20-30 years of Nigerians being more involved in the general running of the country are to me a model of how Euphoria affects nations. The Nigerian people were finally self-governing and elated. The first set of leaders are declared as models for the Nation, but we conveniently forget the ethnic and partisan divisions before independence. Divisions which became evident less than 8years post independence and resulted in the Civil War.

Take our universities, the golden years referred to by most are the nascent years. We were caught up in the euphoria and failed to plan, and build sustainable systems. I’m yet to be convinced of the sustainability of the Nigeria project. If we were brutally honest with ourselves early enough, perhaps the many mistakes which have plagued us would have been avoided.

Beating Euphoria.

There are two main steps we can make to cope with this:

1. Recognise: Early recognition is key to beating euphoria. Recognise past euphoric spells. Learn from them.

2. (a) Resign: In line with the #NoNewFriends creed, we can resign to the known. Failed expectations, murky reality. Take whatever we get.

Or

(b) Re-awaken: We can have a re-awakening, a “clearing of eye” as my people say. We can now try to do things better. Try to consciously build what we want.

After making a choice, it is important to continually assess oneself to avoid relapses. Happiness with progress is good, exaggerated happiness on the other hand can be a breeding ground for failure or complacency.