Our brain is not designed to make us happy in the future. As soon as we achieve goal X, or good thing Y happens to us, our brain works to bring us back to homeostasis. Fantasizing about future happiness is a trap. Happiness can only be found by being grateful in the present moment.
It feels good when we achieve our goals. However, due to human biochemistry, that feeling is often fleeting. As a result, the process is more important than the destination.
Think of the grestest achievements in society. To win a sports championship? To get elected president? To become a millionaire?
If you watch interviews with these people, they are constantly focused on the next big thing. It never ends.
That is the human condition. I’m adapting my mindset accordingly.
(FYI, I think it’s better to celebrate smaller time frame goals (daily/weekly) than thinking something chronologically and emotionally distant could ever change our lives. Google “hedonic treadmill.”)
