I can admit that I easily fall into the category of a Type A personality. And, so do most of my colleagues. We are ambitious people by nature. We’re constantly looking at the next thing, the next goal.
In many respects, I think that’s great. It’s great to be motivated. But this can lead to problems if we’re motivated for the wrong reasons. Chasing after things that aren’t giving us what we really want.
Why do I see many of us caught in the pursuit of more? I think that many of us falsely get caught in the belief that once we attain that “more”, be it a new job, a nicer car, or a higher salary that we will be happier and better off than we were before. But is this true?
Often times, it simply isn’t. And that’s because of what is termed hedonic adaptation. Its described as: “the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes” (Wikipedia).
A set point
The basic idea is that we as people have a happiness “set point” and that good things that happen to us can increase that happiness temporarily, but over the long term, we end up right back where we were beforehand.
The basic idea is that we as people have a happiness “set point” and that good things that happen to us can increase that happiness temporarily, but over the long term, we end up right back where we were beforehand.
A lot of the things we pursue in order to find happiness – more money, the perfect partner, a bigger house, a better body – don’t actually make us any happier in the long term.
For more information please visit: https://www.mdhealthyself.com/how-hedonic-adaptation-affects-your-happiness-and-what-to-do-about-it
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