The hedonic treadmill is “the tendency for humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes.”
Studies show that positive life events, such as securing that promotion, getting married, or even winning the lottery, will make us feel great for a period, but we generally return back to a stable “set point” that we maintain throughout our lives.
Although the highs don’t last, the same can be said for the lows.
The loss of a job, the ending of a friendship, or even serious physical accidents, although extremely painful at the time, usually leave us temporarily unhappy.
That which we long for, and that which we fear, may not be all they’re built up to be inside our minds. There is something liberating in that.