re: The “never-stopping” lifestyle

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just wondering is this what adulthood is supposed to be? I’m basically just a cog in the machinery endlessly spinning to keep things working, my mental health, personal interests/goals, and relaxation be damned?

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I wish more people would think this out before choosing this lifestyle. I know it can be difficult with family and friend pressure, but not everyone is cut out for it.

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The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes.[1] According to this theory, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness. Brickman and Campbell coined the term in their essay "Hedonic Relativism and Planning the Good Society" (1971).[2] During the late 1990s, the concept was modified by Michael Eysenck, a British psychologist, to become the current "hedonic treadmill theory" which compares the pursuit of happiness to a person on a treadmill, who has to keep walking just to stay in the same place.[citation needed] The concept dates back centuries, to such writers as St. Augustine, cited in Robert Burton's 1621 Anatomy of Melancholy: "A true saying it is, Desire hath no rest, is infinite in itself, endless, and as one calls it, a perpetual rack, or horse-mill."[improper synthesis?]

The hedonic (or happiness) set point has gained interest throughout the field of positive psychology where it has been developed and revised further.[3] Given that hedonic adaptation generally demonstrates that a person's long-term happiness is not significantly affected by otherwise impacting events, positive psychology has concerned itself with the discovery of things that can lead to lasting changes in happiness levels.

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More succinctly (from Tyler Durden):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBot8SOLWBQ

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Fight Club: Consumers #TGA2ARH
99,183 views


vmipsychmajor
Published on Aug 23, 2014

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