Why losing my ability to send email actually allowed me to thwart the "hedonic treadmill."

One of the most significant factors in happiness is the hedonic treadmill, or hedonic adaptation.

People are adaptable. We quickly adjust to a new life circumstance—for better or worse—and consider it normal.

Although this helps us when our situation worsens, it means that when circumstances improve, we soon become hardened to new comforts or privileges. Scoring air-conditioning, a bigger house, or a new title gives us only a brief boost in happiness before we start to take it for granted. As Aldous Huxley wrote, “Habit converts luxurious enjoyments into dull and daily necessities.” That’s the hedonic treadmill.

It’s possible to beat the hedonic treadmill. One way is through conscious enjoyment and appreciation. Remind yourself how much you enjoy your perfect cup of coffee or your expensively comfortable bed.

Another is rarity. By keeping a pleasure infrequent, or by going through periods of deprivation, you can awaken yourself to it anew.

I had a great time on vacation in Kansas City, but one pleasure (which I hadn’t before even considered a pleasure) that I missed was the pleasure of sending out email. For some reason, although I could read my email, which was much better than no service at all, I couldn’t send it.

Now I’m back at home. What joy, what satisfaction, what appreciation I feel for my fully operational email! I’m facing many hours of catch-up, but I’m just happy to have this service back at last.

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I just discovered Success from the Nest through LifeRemix. A fun source of lots of useful information.

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Comments

[Mrs. Micah]

I've found that so far, in the month I've had it, my new bed hasn't succumbed to the hedonic treadmill yet. Probably because I'm so grateful that I get to go to bed. It's also a (thin) pillowtop and I get lots of rest in it. I'm hoping to keep it intentional if I notice not appreciating it anymore.

E-mail, depends.

-MM

[Gretchen Rubin]

I have heard from lots of people that a bed is something that is strangely immune to the hedonic treadmill. I scoffed at the folks who paid exorbitantly for their beds, but from what I hear, it's really worth the money. People just love them, night after night. A better example would be, perhaps, a new dining room table. does the job the way the old table did.

[Marc]

Another quirk of thes phenomenon is that we become used to, and even feel enititled to, our luxuries much more quickly than we become used to living without them. After living in Ethiopia for a year with super-slow, clunky, often-unavailable internet, it took me exactly one week on a recent visit to the US to become used to ubiquitous wireless broadband.

[Janet]

I agree with the bed thing! I also haven't yet succumbed to the hedonic treadmill with our now-not-so-new fridge - having crispy vegetables rather than limp ones is one of those little things in life that I keep appreciating every time I cook. Mind you, this is the first fridge I've ever owned that has been brand new, so I've got 30 years of adaption to crummy fridges to overcome....

Gretchen - I love this blog, it is so inspiring. Particularly your commandment to 'be Gretchen' Over the last year I have been trying something similar with my cultural entertainment and just watching/reading what I want to rather than what I feel I should - and it makes me so much happier. Although it does lead to a lot of conversations with people along the lines of 'Did you this arthouse film' 'err..no' followed by a short silence...

[Tess]

"Hedonic treadmill", I really like that expression.
It's like fruit in season - supermarkets supply us with all kinds of fruit all year round, flown in from hot countries, but there's nothing to beat the taste of a locally grown punnet of strawberries (or whatever), in season in your own country.