Have you ever wondered why something that made you really happy at a time stops doing that to you after a while? The new car that you'd wanted for more than a year - remember how thrilled you were the first day/week/month/year? No. By the end of the first year, you would still like it - if you are lucky - but you are definitely not thrilled about it anymore. That is what behavioral economists term 'Hedonistic Adaptation'. People adjust to change in circumstances very fast - particularly positive changes.
Over time, everything becomes stale. New experiences are what we crave. What brings us happiness. What excites us. These changes need not be better in an absolute sense, but the sheer newness makes up for it. What seems like a fabulous life to someone else is dull, monotonous and drab to the one living it. Our generation seems to have understood this better than any before it. Changing jobs frequently - and careers less frequently, moving cities and continents, traveling to new places, trying new things, finding new places to eat, trying new cuisine, listening to new music, doing new drugs...all of it stems from this craving for change, for excitement.
I think that I'll quit my job every 2 years or so and travel for a few months. Probably change careers every 5-6 years. I am not sure whether I want to be an economist or a DJ after this.
Targets for life right now: 1. Make and save enough money so that I can afford to quit my job in another 18 months ;-) 2. Run the 4-minute mile - now I do it in more like 9 mins :-/
ubergeek, the
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3 comments:
Good that you are planning to save money for your pursuits.I am planning to marry a rich gal.
desire (and women) is the root of all evil my friend! btw, isn't also called diminishing utility?
Joe: I don't think that's a good solution if u want to do the things that I want to. Selling your freedom, you'll always be selling yourself short ;-)
CJ:Was that @ Joe or me? If it was at me, then let me ask u back - Without desire, what really makes life worth living? You might desire self-fulfilment, another might desire money, someone else might want power and so on. But u get the picture, don't u? And no - diminsihing utility is that if u already hv some units of something you need, additional units add less to your well being. Like a hungry man's well being will be improved by a lot with the 1st loaf of bread that he gets, the second matters less to him, by the third, he doesn't need bread anymore. So the utility of bread goes on diminshing. And how can women be the root of all evil? Are u trying to say that the planet would be better off with everyone being gay? That just makes the same complications in relationships transfer to a different set of people. Or are u saying that sex is the root of all evil? Surely something as nice and intimate can't be evil! Don't fall into that guilt trap!!!
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