Nigeria, Feb. 8 -- I often return in memory to my secondary school days, when the fear of failure and the dread of coming behind others academically quietly shaped our ambitions, choices, and even our identities. Passing was never enough. One had to be ranked: number 1, 2, 3, or at the very least among the top ten. The emotional rush of being declared "the best" was intoxicating, a validation so powerful that it lingered long after the report cards were forgotten. It fed self-esteem, self-belief, confidence, ego, pride, and a fierce determination to defend one's status. Yet, bundled with that pride came pressure, anxiety, and an unspoken struggle to outdo peers at all costs, a struggle we would later describe, sometimes too casually, as u...