Cherish the plateau

Brickman & Campbell (1971) called this puzzle the Hedonic Treadmill: as a person experiences a positive emotional event, expectations and desires rise in tandem which cancels their net long-term impact, resulting in no permanent gain in happiness.

So no matter how hard one tries to gain in happiness, one will remain in the same place.

Can We Hack Hedonic Treadmills? — LessWrong

The baseline level may be identified at different points among individuals (such as neutral or positive), but is stubbornly stable within them.

The implication is disheartening. If no action durably lifts well-being, then our daily efforts seem to generate motion without progress.

Then I realized. They are not hacks to the treadmill; they are user manuals. They tell you how use the treadmill without wearing it down, not how to transcend it. For people living below their baseline, these strategies can restore functionality. But for those already running well, there may be no higher gear.

As humans, we'll likely remain bound to our hedonic treadmills for a long time. Though if your own treadmill is intact, i.e. free from affective disorders or addiction and you are practicing fundamental well-being habits, you are already experiencing the highest sustainable average happiness humans can currently achieve. Maintenance, not optimisation, is the rational priority.

Cherish the plateau. For now, it is our summit.

Cherish the plateau. For now, it is our summit. This is a beautiful line. This whole post is relatable. In recent days, I've been writing and unraveling what is the next 40 years of my life going to be. It was a good reminder that hedonism cannot be a sustainable motivator.