zdeweilx
It's over
- Dec 15, 2025
- 186
I think the cause of one's sufferings primarily is the result of two things. 1) A low baseline happiness level ; 2) Shitty brain mechanics that make one get used to pretty much anything in record time.
Basically, everything that feels good eventually stops feeling good after some time because of some shitty brain mechanics, called the 'hedonic treadmill', that effectively prevent one from experiencing long-term sustained happiness.
en.wikipedia.org
The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the conjecture that humans quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness (or sadness) despite major positive or negative events or life changes. According to this theory, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness.
www.psychologytoday.com
The hedonic treadmill is the idea that an individual's level of happiness, after rising or falling in response to positive or negative life events, ultimately tends to move back toward where it was prior to these experiences.
One's baseline level of well-being, or "set point," is not necessarily emotionally neutral—it is likely positive for most people—and it is not the same for everyone. A person may also have different baselines for different aspects of well-being (overall life satisfaction versus the amount of positive emotions experienced, for example).
The process by which positive or negative effects on happiness fade over time is called hedonic adaptation.
So if you are lurking on this forum it probably means that your baseline happiness level is low by nature. Knowing this, you would think it is even more important for you to raise it higher to stop suffering.
However, because of the hedonic treadmill phenomenon described above, your brain will do all that is in its power to make you go back to this shitty baseline level that is likely to trigger suicidal thoughts and severe depression.
What is really unfair is that some people's baseline happiness level is so good that they would feel better than most people even if they were staring at a blank wall all day long. Those people are truly blessed because it means they don't even have to go through this constant uphill battle against the hedonic treadmill phenomenon. Even if their brain makes them go back to their baseline level (and they do, because everyone is a victim of the hedonic treadmill), they absolutely don't suffer from it, because it's high enough to keep feeling okay.
Everyone should keep in mind that, no matter the efforts they could be making in an attempt to feel better overall by genuinely improving their life in the healthiest way possible, their own brain will always adapt to the results of their progress, thus dropping their happiness level to its baseline soon or late, thereby making them feel like utter shit in the long term no matter what they do to fix themselves.
So, basically, we are not equal when it comes to mental health, and it is not someone's fault if they are suicidal. Once again, even here, genetics defined everything at birth. The game was rigged since the very beginning.
Basically, everything that feels good eventually stops feeling good after some time because of some shitty brain mechanics, called the 'hedonic treadmill', that effectively prevent one from experiencing long-term sustained happiness.
Hedonic treadmill - Wikipedia
Hedonic Treadmill
The hedonic treadmill is the idea that an individual's level of happiness, after rising or falling in response to positive or negative life events, ultimately tends to move back toward where it was prior to these experiences. One's baseline level of well-being, or "set point," is not necessarily...
One's baseline level of well-being, or "set point," is not necessarily emotionally neutral—it is likely positive for most people—and it is not the same for everyone. A person may also have different baselines for different aspects of well-being (overall life satisfaction versus the amount of positive emotions experienced, for example).
The process by which positive or negative effects on happiness fade over time is called hedonic adaptation.
So if you are lurking on this forum it probably means that your baseline happiness level is low by nature. Knowing this, you would think it is even more important for you to raise it higher to stop suffering.
However, because of the hedonic treadmill phenomenon described above, your brain will do all that is in its power to make you go back to this shitty baseline level that is likely to trigger suicidal thoughts and severe depression.
What is really unfair is that some people's baseline happiness level is so good that they would feel better than most people even if they were staring at a blank wall all day long. Those people are truly blessed because it means they don't even have to go through this constant uphill battle against the hedonic treadmill phenomenon. Even if their brain makes them go back to their baseline level (and they do, because everyone is a victim of the hedonic treadmill), they absolutely don't suffer from it, because it's high enough to keep feeling okay.
Everyone should keep in mind that, no matter the efforts they could be making in an attempt to feel better overall by genuinely improving their life in the healthiest way possible, their own brain will always adapt to the results of their progress, thus dropping their happiness level to its baseline soon or late, thereby making them feel like utter shit in the long term no matter what they do to fix themselves.
So, basically, we are not equal when it comes to mental health, and it is not someone's fault if they are suicidal. Once again, even here, genetics defined everything at birth. The game was rigged since the very beginning.
