The Hedonic Treadmill

if i could only get that promotion... THEN i'd be happy

This too shall pass

Throughout our lives, through the highest highs and the lowest lows, it has been observed that we generally maintain a constant baseline level of happiness.

Part of the human experience - perhaps the entirety of the human experience - is seeking to improve our lives or strive for more in some way. More money, more competency, more success, more love, more meaningful relationships. But we never truly have enough because as we succeed in obtaining the fame, the money, the relationships, we quickly adapt to those new levels of achievement.

We have an emotional response to positive changes - a new relationship, a promotion, a new coveted woodworking power tool (don’t we all want that) - but the boost of happiness that accompanies these achievements fades. Our new reality becomes the new status quo for us and our drive to achieve more gradually creeps back in and washes away the satisfaction of our most recent gains. We fade back to our baseline.

This is known as the Hedonic Treadmill. Our perpetual pursuit of more ultimately leaves us running in the same place. But we must run harder than we were before to keep up with the lifestyle that once felt like an aspiration and now feels like an undesirable pitstop.

Hedonic Tolerance is an innate psychological phenomenon and there isn’t much we can do to completely alleviate it. Nor would we want to because it can be beneficial for us as well. It allows us to return to our baseline levels of happiness after a catastrophically negative event in our lives as well such as the death of a loved one, a life-altering injury, or the loss of a job.

Ultimately, the only way to get off the treadmill, or at least slow it down, is to spend more time appreciating the things you already have. Practices of daily gratitude can remind you that you’ve accomplished many of the things you once dreamt of. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek out more, but being able to see our desires objectively allows us to distance ourselves from them and not take our insatiable drives as seriously.

You’re always going to want more but its important not to let what you want get in the way of enjoying what you already have.

Cheers!