Hedonic adaptation means people return to a stable level of happiness after good and bad events alike. It explains why the exam result, the offer or the setback all feel enormous in advance and much smaller a few months later. The practical use is perspective: any single moment is one pixel of a life, which makes both the celebration and the disappointment worth keeping in proportion.
Since I came across this brilliant article a while back, I have been advocating this approach to how we view lives of others and our own.
The article focuses on a term known as Hedonic adaptation. The principle states that we return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events in our lives.
I find this axiom especially useful when we start looking at the perceived success of others and start thinking if only I had that I would be happier. When faced with such a circumstance I would advise we take the approach of remembering that your overall level of happiness is unlikely to change, regardless of your wish for your "child to be like X student who is top of the class” etc.
As the link itself is quite lengthy I am going to keep this week’s newsletter short and finish with an apt quote:
“Comparison is the death of Joy” - Mark Twain
What should you read next?
1. The New Normal [A really cool short video on this topic]
2. Life is a picture but you live in a pixel [The article]
What else is worth reading?
- 🧠Why learn?
- A Student's Guide to Ramadan 2023 📝
- Are you in a death spiral?🐜
- Best Cities for Starting a New Life After Graduation
- Choosing the Right Course in London: A Comprehensive Guide
What are the honest limits of this piece?
This is an opinion piece rather than research: it argues from experience and from the sources it cites, and reasonable people disagree with it. Where it makes a factual claim, the sources below are the place to check it.
There is a free, government-run service for exactly this:
“We provide careers information, advice and guidance. We can help you make decisions at all stages in your career.” — National Careers Service
Where can you check this at source?
The claims here about work, money and how people rate their lives are measured nationally:
- ONS — Wellbeing — the national measures of how people rate their own lives
- National Careers Service — job profiles with current pay bands and entry requirements
- DfE — Graduate labour market statistics — employment rates for graduates against non-graduates