But eventually your level of happiness returned to normal and you began to desire new things. However, when looking back, there was a time where you thought that once you got those things, you’d be happier. That is why buying a new car, getting a promotion at work, moving into a nicer house, or finding a partner to share your life with quickly becomes “normal” and you can no longer derive a persistent bump in joy from it. The shift in baseline means that things which used to be “wow” are now taken for granted. The whole process will just repeat itself! Perhaps switching to a newer, bigger model might do the trick? Well, hold your horses before hunting for more horsepower. For example, after you’ve just bought a new Tesla you may toy around excitedly with that insane acceleration power, much to the dismay of your partner and the health of their cervical spine, but a few months in it starts to feel a bit “meh”. What impact does hedonic adaptation have? Though some evidence suggests the adaptation process may be more nuanced (challenging the assumption that the adaptation is inevitable and even recognizing the role interpersonal differences may play) there is evidence that fleeting moments of happiness or sadness can actually shift the baseline level of happiness up or down, therefore changing our ‘neutral’ level. This means we are never completely satisfied with what we currently have. No matter what we desire, when we finally achieve it, our mind moves the goalposts again and again, in endless pursuit of the next big thing. The metaphor of a treadmill points out an inconvenient truth – no matter how hard we try to gain an increase in happiness, we tend to remain in the same place (or quickly return to it). This innate tendency to adapt is also known as the “ hedonic treadmill”. On the flip side, it creates a problem if things are going our way. Thanks to this adaptation, we can bounce back fairly quickly after something bad happens, which is quite handy in overcoming major bumps on the road. The gist of the theory is that we get used to stuff – good or bad – or as Aldous Huxley more eloquently put it: “Habit converts luxurious enjoyments into dull and daily necessities.” LEARN MORE How does hedonic adaptation work?

Hedonic adaptation example