ESWB is a serious drug that many people are addicted to. People of all walks of life are hooked on ESWB. Worse than that, it is LEGAL and few people are taking action to counter it.
- Your loved ones are addicted to ESWB.
- Your neighbors are addicted to ESWB.
- Even you, possibly without you knowing it, are addicted to this ESWB.
You might be thinking, “I’ve never heard of ESWB – how can I possibly be addicted to it?” (Denial, my friends, denial.)
E.S.W.B. stands for an “exaggerated sense of well-being.” ESWB is the need to feel super-great all the time. (You could even call it a “high”).
As sentient creatures, we want to feel “amazing” all the time. But this is not possible!
Let’s say on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being nirvana, your general sense of well-being flutters around a 5.
Whenever you shop, eat chocolate, say something über clever, act helpful, drink something delicious, receive acknowledgement from someone you like, or do anything pleasurable – your “sense of well-being” number might move up from 5.0 to 5.2. And, 5.2 is better than a 5. You are experiencing ESWB.
You feel good. You’ve gotten a hit of some pleasure.
But then it starts to crash. Buyer’s remorse. Guilt. You weren’t praised enough. Someone had a wittier comeback than you. You’re back down to a 5. Or, God-forbid, you’re now at a 4.9.
So, without thinking about it, because you don’t want to feel or live in the crash, you decide to take another hit of ESWB – and maybe you take a higher dose.
Give me my ESWB!
I need ESWB!
I need an exaggerated sense of well-being!
Let’s say you’re clever and you figure out a way to pleasure yourself sufficiently so that you can lock yourself in at a 6. Now what happens? Adaptation – that biological mechanism by which an organism or species changes and becomes more suitable to its environment. Now 6 is your new normal state.
So now in order to get ESWB, you’ve got to seek pleasures that are on an even bigger scale.
You see the problem here, right? We can never maintain an exaggerated sense of well-being for long. Nobody can.
We need to learn how to be comfortable with where we are. That’s called acceptance – having the courage to say, “This is where I am, and where I am is where I am.”
Seeking extreme happiness all the time, searching for a permanent, exaggerated sense of well-being? It’s never going to work. It will only lead to constant crashes.
Spiritual-religious advice:
Go drug-free. Lay off the ESWB.
With love,
