How To Be Happier – Stop Adapting So Much

When my wife and I first got married, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment that was the cheapest option in our zip code. We literally went to apartments.com, sorted from least expensive, and then signed on the dotted line. Our room was sandwiched between habitual smokers. Our assigned parking spot was a 5-minute walk to the front door. They didn’t plow the parking lot when it snowed.

And we were so happy.

We often think back to that first year of marriage and laugh at how much fun we had and the terrible stuff we put up with. We would be miserable in that shack of an apartment now.

Why are we all so quick to adapt to a newer, better normal?

We get a new car and are giddy for a few weeks until it becomes just our car.

We move into a nicer home with a larger mortgage, and then soon enough it is just our home.

We get huge returns in the stock market and then anchor to a new portfolio value, that we never want to see it drop below again.

Since 1900, real GDP per capita has increased 9X. In plain English, that means that even after adjusting for inflation, we are nine times wealthier than our ancestors 120 years ago. We can travel across the country in the same amount of time it would have taken them to get out of their town. If we could go back and tell our ancestors that, they would have thought we were living extravagant lives – which surprisingly, is not how any of us feel. While wealth has increased 9x since 1900, I would argue we’ve adapted just as much, if not more.

Probably the best thing we can do for our wealth and health is have more gratitude for what we have and split the difference between enjoying the excess and lowering our expectations for what we deserve.

Thank you for reading,

Alex

This blog post is not advice. Please read disclaimers.