Why You’re Never Going to Be Satisfied With Life

Why You’re Never Going to Be Satisfied With Life

The title above might seem negative and depressing.

But what if we were able to see dissatisfaction as a good thing; as something that drives us to learn and grow?

What if we could learn to embrace dissatisfaction and other forms of distress?

That’s essentially what this Psychology Today article by Nir Eyal is all about …

KEY POINTS

  • Researchers have found that feeling contented isn’t good for the species because it keeps us from seeking further benefits or improvements.
  • Psychological factors that make satisfaction temporary include boredom, negativity bias, rumination, and hedonic adaptation.
  • Discontent is not a reason to give up on success. Rather, it’s a reason to introduce the opportunity for frequent and meaningful victories.

Why are we perpetually restless and unsatisfied? We live in the safest, healthiest, most well-educated, most democratic time in history—and yet, some part of the human psyche causes us to look for an escape from things stirring inside us constantly.

As the eighteenth-century poet Samuel Johnson said, “My life is one long escape from myself.” Me too, brother. Me too.

The truth is, we’re not wired to feel content or satisfied. Ever.

There’s a simple reason for that: as expressed by researchers for the Review of General Psychology, “If satisfaction and pleasure were permanent, there might be little incentive to continue seeking further benefits or advances.”

In other words, feeling contented wasn’t good for the species.

Our ancestors worked harder and strove further because they evolved to be perpetually perturbed, and so we remain today.

The Four Components of Dissatisfaction

Four psychological factors make satisfaction temporary.

The first is boredom. The lengths people will go to avoid boredom are shocking. Literally…

… keep reading the full & original article HERE