Getting used to it

Ever bought a new car, or even just a fancier used car than what you had before? I bet that when you first got it, it was exciting, and felt luxurious and special. But what probably happened over the next 6 weeks to 6 months is that the specialness and excitingness of it wore off. And it's probably also safe to guess that this is an experience you've had repeatedly after buying new material goods; you experience a spike of pleasurable emotions (excitement, happiness, etc) when you acquire the item (house, car, coat, couch, for example), but over time these feelings wane, until the said item just feels normal or nothing special.

The human capacity to adapt to, or get used to, one's environment is what enables us to survive in adverse conditions. Our bodies are wired to adapt, and to quickly get used our surroundings, whatever they are, so that we have more resources to cope with the novel and the unexpected. Unfortunately, if one of our main ways of obtaining pleasure is through buying new things, we're going to need to buy a lot of increasingly luxurious items to get the same pleasure 'hit' over time, as we quickly adapt to each new, once special, purchase. This is often referred to as the hedonic treadmill.

So what to do with this information? Perhaps keep the hedonic treadmill principle in mind, especially when you're considering a purchase that will put you into debt; remember that no matter how special your imminent purchase seems right now, after you've owned it for a few months, it probably won't feel that special at all.