Boost Your Baseline
October 26, 2022
Writer: Molly Fischman
Editor: Mary Wurster
In my high school psychology class, I learned about a theory called the Hedonic Treadmill. According to this theory, people repeatedly return to their baseline level of happiness, regardless of what happens to them — a windfall of money, a championship victory, a tragic personal loss. We might experience a boost from scoring well on a test, getting into a new relationship, or being selected to lead a club. The Hedonic Treadmill theory states that our circumstances, even those that are extreme, alter our happiness level only temporarily, and then we quickly adjust back to a fixed emotional “set point.”
When I learned about this theory, it immediately resonated with me. I would anxiously anticipate the happiness from something that was about to happen, it would happen, and then the glimmer would fade (too quickly, I might add). This fade almost made me more motivated to replicate that boost, hoping that the next time it would carry over for a longer period. This pattern led me to wonder, how could I boost my baseline?
College is a complete roller coaster of emotions. It is a mess of unpredictability, stress, and change. Not to mention, you are expected to have the “best four years of your life” amidst all the adversity. I have quickly learned this instability doesn’t get easier after freshman year, which leads me to wonder: why am I not happier?
During a conversation with my Dad, I asked him about this question I constantly wrestle with. He gave me a simple answer: the goal of life is not to be happy, but to get through it. In all honesty, I was not satisfied with this response. However, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized that my Dad is right. If I am constantly searching for more ways to make myself happy, I am missing all of the opportunities around me, or within me, to just be.
Experiencing and feeling both highs and the lows is a part of life. The Hedonic Treadmill is not only affected by the good circumstances, but the bad ones too. Getting through the bad and picking yourself up after a breakup, a bad test score, or rejection from a club, is how one boosts their baseline. It is valuable to appreciate “getting through it” and growing from adversity.
In my opinion, ultimate happiness is not the goal. The goal is to be hopeful enough to know that maybe right now is a bad boost, but soon, a good boost is coming to lift you back up. Living hopefully does not mean that you aren’t looking for experiences that could make you happy. Rather, it means that you know you are going to get past the things that make you sad, frustrated, or discouraged too. An article in The Conversation notes that “being open to emotional experiences and the ability to tolerate periods of discomfort can allow us to move towards a richer, more meaningful existence.”
I am not a psychiatrist, nor a philosopher. Still, I have found that happiness lies within myself. Instead of viewing life as a way to constantly boost your baseline, I think life should be about how to move through good and bad moments meaningfully, optimistically, and authentically.
