Hedonic Adaptation and You


You’ve heard it, said it, thought it… “I’ll be happy when/if…”. The human search for happiness spans all time and cultures, past and present, and is happening right now in your own head. Unfortunately, we often see happiness as event driven. To state the obvious, that makes unhappiness event driven, as well.

Do you really want to leave your happiness up to events that you do not control?

While one might argue that is just a poor idea for any number of reasons, hedonic adaption ensures that is a poor idea. Hedonic adaptation is the concept that human happiness, basically, reverts to the mean after positive, and even negative, events. If you hit the lottery, you will be absolutely euphoric… for a bit. Big promotion and associated pay raise. That’s awesome… for now.

“So… I can’t be happy?”.

No. You can. You just can’t leave it to that unchecked brain of yours. You must own it. You must understand yourself.

You leverage that lottery to lift-up others, to gain new experiences, learn new things, AND you actively express gratitude every day… ok, you MAY be onto something.

The promotion put you in a new circle of peers, some of whom make more money, drive nicer cars, have larger homes… well, you get it.

The point is, happiness and unhappiness can be found across the spectrum of wealth, comfort, locale, etc. Without intentionality, we naturally adapt to where we are, assume ourselves deficient in something, want it, don’t have it, are disappointed, and slip back to the mean. A basic understanding of this allows for a little insight into how your brain is working against you.

It’s not all bad news, however. Similar responses are seen after negative events, meaning that after an initial drop in happiness, it will generally return to previous levels. If this is true, and the data suggests that it is, then if you want to be happier, you have to work on that setpoint. This recognition can be the first step in understanding that you need to stop, step back, and appreciate where you are relative to your values and your actual goals. This does not happen by itself. This is active.

This is a blog about fighting, every day, for your best life… however you define that. Work, every day, to understand who you are and who you want to be. The obstacle in between those two is you. The fight starts there…

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