On Hedonistic Adaptation and Endurance

Human beings feel the pain of loss roughly twice as acutely as the joy of gains. Find $100, you're up 1 happiness point. Lose the same $100 and you're down 2 happiness points, even though you're in the same absolute position. It's called loss aversion, and it makes sense evolutionarily because it spurs us to strive for more, which helps the prepared survive.

But what happens when we're surrounded by prosperity and abundance we weren't wired for? We adapt. Fast. There's a term for this: hedonic adaptation. We get used to the good stuff quick, and our baseline for "acceptable" keeps rising.

The Stoics understood this, and in some ways it's their starting point. Expect nothing and you will be content. From our modern perspective this seems extreme, but we can experiment with lowering expectations to the point where we accept that some discomfort is inevitable. Suffering is an inescapable feature of life. In the face of it, the only wise choice is to endure it. And with some courage, hopefully we can endure it together.

For this illustration I wanted a subject that captures the idea of enduring through acceptance and mutual support. Emperor penguins came to mind, huddled together and enduring the winter as if they were a part of the rugged landscape.

From our book, Letters from a Stoic