The Hedonic Treadmill
The psychological phenomenon known as the hedonic treadmill has been well documented since at least the 1970s. The concept refers to how humans tend to revert to a baseline level of happiness after positive or negative changes in their lives. There may be a spike in happiness after a wedding, a promotion at work, or buying a new TV, but that is temporary—people tend to eventually revert to their previous levels of happiness. The same thing is true about negative life changes. {read}