“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.” – Kurt Vonnegut
Have you ever heard of that phenomenon where lottery winners eventually lose all their money or become unhappy again?
This concept is called hedonic adaptation. It’s where human beings return to their normal levels of happiness shortly after positive or negative events happen.
The reason why this idea is so important to understand is because, especially when a major crisis hits such as a pandemic, we need to know just how easy it is for us to simply get used to a new normal…. even if there’s nothing normal about our new reality.
Since we re-opened over a week ago, we had many returning members surprised to find how much they missed being in the gym.
Why?
Hedonic adaptation! They got used to their new lives working out at home, not remembering how different (and better) it was when they were coming to the gym regularly.
There are many other examples in your own life where you may unknowingly be running on the hedonic treadmill yourself.
Today’s podcast offers you an opportunity to reflect on what habits and lifestyle you’ve been letting yourself get fall into, and, more importantly, what you’d like to change or improve. Click the play button below to listen now.