In Pursuit of Happiness, Less is More
Speaking for myself, (and possibly some others) this is a tough time of year to be
happy. Long dark nights, short cold days, post-holiday blues, impending taxes, another
birthday—I could go on. Plus my own personal demons, which I won’t go into. Regardless,
I’m finding it more difficult to wake up bright and cheery these days.
Perhaps that’s why the headline of an online newsletter I subscribe to caught my eye. The title of the newsletter is Further, and it’s written by Brian Clark. The headline of this post is Why Less is More at Midlife. Yes, I’m way past midlife, but the less-is-more concept got my attention.
His premise is that we spend a large portion of our lives acquiring education, money, families, homes, cars, and stuff, because we're genetically predisposed to do so, but it doesn’t necessarily make us happy. He writes:
“It makes no sense in modern life to use our energies to have five cars, five bathrooms, or even five pairs of sneakers, but we just … want them. Neuroscientists have looked into this. Dopamine is excreted in response to thoughts about buying new things, winning money, acquiring more power or fame, having new sexual partners.”
So is dopamine to blame? We just want the rush from acquisition? That’s part of the equation. The other part is just plain pressure from society to do more, get more, be more. The problem is it can’t last. At some point, we can’t keep up the pace and we fall behind in the race to acquire.
And we make the mistake of comparing ourselves to others, based on financial gain, possessions, titles—you name it. I’m great at doing this. That’s a surefire path to unhappiness.
“Less” doesn’t necessarily mean doing or being less. It means pursuing projects that have nothing to do with acquiring more “stuff” or gaining approval from others, especially given that neither has managed to bring lasting satisfaction so far (hint, that won’t change).
That can be tough, but once you realize that life is more than just piling on the possessions you can obtain the only thing you’re here to achieve — mastery of yourself.
If you’re interested in finding out more check outHow to Want Less, an excerpt from the new book From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life, from bestselling author, Harvard professor, and the Atlantic's happiness columnist Arthur Brooks.