For a long time, I’ve wrestled with the notion of finding happiness – an ongoing quest to understand what drives us and what gives us the zeal to wake up and face the world each day. Despite my efforts, I’ve rarely come close to a definitive answer. The closest I’ve come is through understanding myself: focusing on the things I love and avoiding the search for external, fleeting solutions to fill internal voids.
Have you ever heard of the hedonistic treadmill? It’s the concept of baseline happiness – the idea that, no matter what happens in our lives, whether it be a great loss or gain, we will eventually return to our baseline level of happiness. When you think about it, this feels true. How many times have you experienced something that you thought would change everything about you, only to find that you remain largely the same?
Sometimes, I wish I could be like Forrest Gump, simply living through it all within my baseline of “abnormality,” moving through life within my own untainted frame.
Anyway, happiness as a concept is fleeting. We can never fully grasp what it entails. Today, I choose not to seek happiness but rather to be content with myself and with where I am, relative to where I was.