Psychologists have known for fifty years that people tend to adjust to the good things that happen to them, ending up about as happy as they ever were

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2024-07-02 15:30:02

Psychologists have known for fifty years that people tend to adjust to the good things that happen to them, ending up about as happy as they ever were. It’s called the hedonic treadmill: chase after happiness and the treadmill speeds up just enough to keep you right where you are. The hypothesis has undergone some fine-tuning over the years––escaping poverty really does make people happier, for example––but the basic premise remains intact.

Everybody, even people who know about the hedonic treadmill, acts as if they aren’t on it. All of us––myself included!––work very hard every day to acquire additional prestige and currency and convenience and comfort, assuming that we'll feel better once we get it. Other people are running faster just to stay in place, but we are wisely chasing after one more promotion, publication, or piece of praise, and once we catch it, we will feel perfect, unending bliss.

We’re all on treadmills, of course, and that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with sweating and straining a little; the problem is thinking that you’re going somewhere. True happiness actually comes from realizing that you cannot get any closer to your destination, and in fact that there’s no destination at all, only a journey. All we have to do is accept it!