Can money buy happiness? The general consensus has always been no. But there seems to be some research of late that contradicts this age old saying.
While it is true that you do feel a rush after purchasing a brand new flat screen TV or that new car you’ve always wanted, it’s also a fact that over time that feeling fades. Unfortunately one of mans greatest strengths, our adaptability, works against us here. We become so used to any changes we experience in our lives that even happiness levels fall victim to this.
I’m sure most of you could admit that at one time or another you purchased something new and were damn excited! A week or two after the purchase you were still excited, but not DAMN excited. A few months after you bought it, the item had become a regular part of your life and that excitement had completely disappeared.
There have been a number of studies recently that suggest that this phenomenon of our happiness levels returning to their norm doesn’t happen so frequently, and sometimes not at all, after we spend money on EXPERIENCES!
That’s right, new experiences seem to contradict that famous saying. People report that after going on a trip they were looking forward to, a play, hell, even something as minor as a movie, their happiness levels stay elevated well after the event has passed. Even more importantly, the memory of the experience sometimes returns our happiness levels back to close to what they were at when we were actually experiencing the event.
I can attest that this seems to be true as I recently went on a family weekend for my mother’s 65th birthday. My brother from Florida flew up for the event and two of my Mom’s relatives from Scotland attended. This happened almost 5 months ago, yet whenever my wife and I look at the pictures we took that weekend, we can’t help but laugh and feel great all over again.
That is the power of experiences. It is especially great if you can figure out how to make someone happy by sharing a great experience with them.
Both my wife and I recently turned 40, and as many do at this age, we sat down to re-evaluate our lives. We realized that trading money for jobs that brought us unhappiness and living in a city we disliked just didn’t cut it anymore. We quit our jobs and moved two hours west into a house that is on the edge of the country, backing on to a ravine. Our happiness levels are probably at their highest since we’ve been together, even though we have decidedly less money. We have a much tighter budget now, and sometimes have to forego buying new things on a whim like we used to. But we also couldn’t drive five minutes to go on nature walks, or sit in our backyard and sometimes hear nothing but the birds, or take the kids biking on paths through the woods instead of the streets.
All of these experiences far outweigh the things we used to buy more freely. We feel we have gotten much closer to our own definition of happiness.
Try this and let me know how it works for you.
Be Happy J