Some want to be even happier. Some are too happy.
Some think it's easy. Some think it's static. Some think it's earned. Some think it's elusive and find others who possess it annoying. And some who possess it are annoyed by those who are annoyed by them possessing it.
That's life, I suppose.
Personally, I've always believed in the hedonic treadmill theory. Or when I say believed, I mean when I first read about it, something clicked inside me. Yes, I thought, that's how it is for me.
Good things have happened to me. Bad things have happened to me. Very good things have happened to me. Very bad things have happened to me. My happiness has gone up and it's gone down, but never that far, and never that high. I always go back to pretty much where I was before.
And I'm not complaining. I think my before is a pretty happy place.
(Twenty bucks someone gets annoyed at that...)
But what most clicked was the idea that I didn't have to take blame or responsibility for it. Because sometimes people try and make you feel bad for feeling bad, or for feeling good, or for just feeling how you damn well feel. Do something to fix it, they seem to be saying.
Can't, says the hedonic treadmill theory. It would be pointless. I am the way I am, and you should accept me the way I am, because I do. And I kind of like that.
But then it's just a theory, and it could be completely full of crap. Still doesn't mean I don't kind of like it.
Anyway, you tell me: is your happiness a treadmill ride, or no?
