Why It’s So Hard to Remain Happy – Artin’s Final Blog Post

Before I begin, I would like to take a page out of Sarah’s book and suggest that we start off with some music. I have embedded below Chilled Cow’s Lofi Radio, which I like to listen to when I’m studying or writing. I particularly enjoy lofi for studying because it helps bring a little groove, if you will, to my rhetoric. It also makes me excited to write, a feeling I rarely have when it comes to writing.

With that said, and without any further ado, here is my final report post, in which I attempt to discuss habits, mindsets, and happiness to the best of my ability. 

In an unexpected shock to everyone reading this post, I would like to confess to something: I have not discovered the secret to happiness. Philosophy books, YouTube videos, motivational speeches, and even the fountainhead of all human knowledge, Reddit, have failed to provide me with the golden key to joy. Every time I think I have discovered the eternal solution to happiness, a hairpin manages to slip in and ruin the entire model upon which I had built my week. Say, for instance, that I had adopted the Epicurean mindset, and that I had managed to cherish the “little things in life,” that I had managed to see the beauty in what already was and not what could be. This mindset would then enable me to live a happy life… for a while, until life interferes and I fail to upkeep the habit that I had been treasuring for the past week. I’m on the classic Hedonic Treadmill, where good events and habits make me temporarily happy, but later dissolve into hedonic neutrality.

To summarize the Hedonic Treadmill: Let’s say you really wanted a Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut Supercar. You spend countless days and nights working overtime at McDonald's, world-renowned for its high wages and employee satisfaction. After a week of hard work, you finally procure the funds to purchase the Koenigsegg. You love the car, and everything’s great, but after a week, the thrill starts to die down. Your emotions stabilize, and you feel normal again. It’s not like you’re sad or unhappy; you’re just not as happy as you think you should be. You’ve just dissolved into hedonic neutrality. 

Now, Epicurus would flay me alive if he were able to read what I just wrote above; Good thing he doesn’t speak English. The point of the matter, though, is that happiness, or any other feeling, really, is typically temporary. Hedonic neutrality is always lurking, waiting to sedate us after our highest highs or lowest lows. This neutrality can affect a lot more than just cars, though. Impacting achieved goals like job aspirations, economic stability, relationships, immigration, food, travel, mental health, and almost every other aspiration you can think of. Let’s say you’re sick and have a stuffy nose. You yearn for the ability to breathe again, to inhale the fumes of the synthetic McDouble patties you’ve been flipping to pay off your poor financial choices. After a week, Pinocchio’s back! Breathing feels great! But then, after a few days, you get used to it again and dissolve into hedonic neutrality. (Take a moment to breathe and appreciate your nose.)

If you look hard enough, the Hedonic Treadmill is everywhere! Kinda scary, but also hopeful and inspiring if you ask me.

There is an Epicurean resolve to the Hedonic Treadmill, but treadmills weren’t a thing yet when Epicurus was alive, so I think he shouldn’t get a say in this matter. I would also argue that the Epicurean approach isn’t very sustainable in today’s world, so I have chosen not to explore it in full. If you disagree with my take, please feel free to leave a comment. I will analyze and carefully consider their contents in my brand new Koenigsegg. 

What I will explore, however, is what Pedro Blaise Pascal had to say about this hamster-wheel pursuit of happiness.

“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The Will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”

-Blaise Pascal; Pensées, Section VII: Morality and Doctrine

Now, I’m not the biggest fan of zealots, but I think Pedro’s onto something here. We’re all chasing happiness in one way or another. There is no escaping that, even by staying content with Epicurean good enoughs (Socrates Express, 117).

Maybe (just a hypothesis here), the Hedonic Treadmill is our pathway to happiness. We may need goals to keep us busy and provide us with something achievable to look forward to. Maybe happiness is found in pursuit, and not in gain.

I’m not arguing we must always “hustle” or buy things to be happy. We don’t need to reach for the stars. We don’t need to buy it all from Amazon. Alternatively, we can set ourselves fulfilling, achievable, and sustainable goals, sprinkled with a few ambitious ones here and there for long-term enrichment. Our goals can be as simple as “I will learn to cook chicken alfredo this weekend,” or “I will paint my laptop cover to make it look cool,” or as extraordinary and ambitious as “I will work towards buying a Koenigsegg.”

So, in short: You’ll be on this treadmill for a while anyway, so you might as well listen to some good music on the way.

What Pascal ultimately argues is summarized in a deeply profound and abstrusely beautiful quote below… one I have blatantly misattributed and embellished (using my own artistic competency, of course).

The graphic above is NOT made by Gemini 😉

“Learn Not to Care” (LHP 28-33)

As I am writing this, I have been informed that my Koenigsegg will be repossessed. That is, unless I manage to provide the agreed-upon $25 monthly payment. As a college student, that amount is well beyond what I can realistically afford. It’s improbable that I can keep this vehicle. The Stoic thing to do would be to change my attitude, for “our attitude to what happens is within our control even though what happens often isn’t” (LHP 29). I agree, there are many things beyond our control. I would argue, though, that our reactions to uncontrollable events can be far more diverse and creative than we typically permit them to be. Our solutions are only restricted by how far we are willing to go, not how far we can realistically go. If I really want to keep my Koenigsegg, I should get a second or third job. If not that, I can rob a bank. If not that, I can borrow money from a friend. If not that, I can go Breaking Bad. If not that, I can drive all the way down to Argentina, where I will hide my car in an abandoned medical facility and live under the alias of Juantin Juanoushan.

Jokes aside, there tends to be more than one approach to a problem that is making you unhappy. I’ll admit, not all of them are convenient, but it’s still comforting to know another untapped option exists. For me, at least, simply believing that you have a variety of choices is convincing enough to ensure that our situation is rarely fully and completely hopeless. Maybe I’m just coping, but this mindset made giving up my Koenigsegg a little easier. I didn’t even want it that badly anyway. Besides, they were only able to take it in the first place because I didn’t want to go through the trouble of mastering Spanish.

This Reddit discussion thread is an interesting source to observe what others have to say about the Stoic mindset.   My favorite opinion from this thread above comes from DentedAnvil: “We can control what we choose to believe. All of our emotions and moods are the result of our beliefs crashing into reality.”

This brings me to my final idea, which helps lead to an answer to a discussion question I mentioned earlier in class: 

What do we sacrifice, if anything, when we choose to be happy?

This point is inspired by Dakota and David’s presentation on On Truth. Throughout their speech, I couldn’t help but think about one thing. Would it really be that bad if we lied to ourselves here and there? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a positive outlook on life, even if that positivity is reliant on us tricking ourselves? I don’t hold a firm opinion on this, but I do believe remaining happy is made extremely difficult if you’re always fully aware of everything. So, maybe it’s best if we lie to ourselves... occasionally at least. I think we already do so unconsciously, whether we notice or not.

BIG FINALE

That brings us to the end of my final blog post. If you have enjoyed reading through this and have sensed empathy for the deplorable state of my car-less being, please consider making a sizable donation to my GoFundMe. If we reach a $8,000,000 in donations, I will consider writing a sequel to this post.

Thank you for bearing with me,

Artin Manoushan