Our brains are weird. We carry a lot of evolutionary quirks that have helped us survive in the past, but now aren’t particularly useful. Anybody ever had their appendix removed? But something that our brains excel at is adaptation. We are remarkably skilled at adjusting to situations. This means that we’re capable of enduring difficult situations. But it also means that we adjust to good things really fast, too. That’s why I’m working on thwarting hedonism in my life.
What is Hedonistic Adaptation?
Like I said, our brains are remarkable at adjusting to things. But this can be a bad thing when applied to good things in our lives. It doesn’t take long for a cool new job to get stressful or for a new car to stop being exciting. This is hedonistic adaptation. After a positive or negative event, we return to a stable level of happiness.
Why We Need to Thwart Hedonism
Hedonistic adaptation actually hurts us in two ways, continuing the cycle known as the hedonistic treadmill.
First, we’re bad at predicting how happy things will make us
As we approach a goal or an anticipated negative life event, we are horrible at predicting how happy or sad it will make us. Basically, we expect to be devastated by bad news or elated at good news. But in reality, the effect of good and bad things is muted, since there are always more things happening at once. Getting that promotion is awesome, but it doesn’t change the fact that you need to remember to pay rent and you spilled coffee on your shirt this morning.
Then, we want more things
Ok, so you got the promotion. Great, right? Yeah, how long until you want something else? Answer: not long. Because our brains are so good at adjusting, it doesn’t take long until the exciting new thing is just a normal daily occurrence. Gone is the boost of happiness from getting it in the first place. So we find something else to want.
So first we want something, don’t get as big of a happiness burst as we expected, then we want MORE. Now, let’s talk about how to go about thwarting that hedonism.
How to Thwart Hedonism
Full disclosure: most of the information I’m talking about came from the Science of Well-Being Coursera. If you’re interested in some of the studies that have been done on this subject, be sure to check out that coursera. It’s free and SO full of information!
Try and Want the Right Things
Probably the best thing you could do in your quest toward thwarting hedonism is to work with your brain. And that means shifting your perspective on what you want. In general, traditional goals like a prestigious career, cool stuff, or even a good body or marriage, aren’t going to lead to lasting happiness. The things that will lead to lasting happiness are: kindness toward others, social connection, time affluence, mindfulness, and health practices like good sleep and regular exercise.
Practice Concrete Reexperience
Ok, so kindness, social connection, and so on, are all well and good. But we still live in the real world and we have jobs and buy stuff. So how do you thwart hedonism with the stuff that you choose to bring into your life? Try concretely reexperiencing the things!
Here’s how concrete reexperiencing works. Let’s say you got a cool new job. You’re on top of the world for a month or so. You’re learning so many new things, meeting cool new colleagues…and then you hit a massive deadline and your fun new job is now stressful. When you find yourself not enjoying something as much as you used to, take some time to think about what it was like before you had it. Remember your crappy old job? The one that bored you to death and had no opportunities for advancement? Isn’t it better to be in this new job, even with the stress?
Studies show that this is the fastest and easiest way to thwart hedonism and build a new appreciation for what we have.
Take Breaks In Enjoyable Activities
Cool, but what about smaller things in life? I’m not going to distract myself from whatever episode of Star Trek I’m watching to think, “Man, this is so much better than before, when I wasn’t watching Star Trek.” But be careful! Hedonism works on small things like watching Netflix. You’ll get a boost in happiness when you settle in and start an episode, but before long, you’re back to the level of happiness you were before you started watching.
To maximize your enjoyment of simple things like your relaxation activities, take a break! I know, when you’re crushing a bar of chocolate, the last thing you want to do is stop, but bear with me. After a few bites, if you take a break, you’ll thwart your hedonism by resetting your level of happiness! When you come back to the chocolate, you’ll get a new boost of happiness.
So next time you’re in the middle of a Netflix binge, pause it between episodes, stand up and stretch. Give yourself a few minutes, then come back to it. You won’t regret it.
Push Through the Unenjoyable Things
One cool thing about hedonism is that it works for both positive and negative events. I do not have any level of authority on traumatic events, so please don’t think that I’m addressing them here. I’m talking about run-of-the-mill negative things, like cleaning the toilet, getting out of bed, or calling the doctor to make an appointment.
Now, instead of thwarting hedonism, you should play along with it! Your brain will adjust to the odious task and you’ll find yourself back at your basic level of happiness in no time. So don’t break these tasks into stages – push through them. After an initial dip in happiness, you get used to it, and before long, you finish the task!
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