There is an epidemic today
of everybody feeling the need to live amazing lives, make amazing money, and live and share incredible experiences online. The problem with the pressure to also do MORE and become incredible is that it will make you unhappy. The hedonic treadmill is a real problem.
No matter where you are in life, it never ends. It only ends when you die. There will always be struggles, stress, and issues that pop up. So how do we achieve the supposed paradox of being ok with being average while also pursuing a big and lofty goal?
It all starts with acceptance!
If you go skydiving you will simply "go with the flow". You accept the forces acting upon you and enjoy the ride. You are doing something incredible, of course, but you are also being in the moment and accepting whatever may come!
The truth is, each individuals life is a small flickering flame of consciousness in an otherwise vast ocean of nothingness. You didn't exist before you were born forever, and you also won't exist for far longer than you will ever have existed. It's really a "one and done" deal! This can mess with peoples heads in a way that will make them try to savor and suck everything out of life. As it should.
The problem starts when everybody thinks they need to be incredible like everybody else. It's not true however! We are bombarded nowadays with the incredible lives of thousands of others, always being made to feel inadequate. No other time in human history has been like this. With the internet and social media it can only get worse if we let it. A true epidemic.
Never ending growth is a cancer. That's what never ending progress is. To combat the hedonic treadmill just realize that life is average for most people. Most people wake up, do the same things, do normal activities, eat, and sleep. There's not a whole group of people just totally killing it and leaving you behind. Ok maybe!
And it doesn't matter! Everybody adapts to their circumstances and their happiness levels stay largely the same.
Be ok with being average.
Plan for the worst.
But hope for the best.
And step off the hedonic treadmill.
You man,
Andrew
Haha, welcome to a not so average community. Here you can be as average as you like and people still love your stuff. Especially when it is as funny as your intro post.
When I arrived on Steemit a few weeks ago I was very confused how this all works. I read through hundreds of articles about the dynamics of Steemit and finally wrote this The Ultimate Guide for Steemit Beginners: Money, Posts, Design, Topics, Bots, Behaviour, Community and Apps. I wrote it for YOU. Normally I wouldn't post my links into others comments unasked. But the massive positive feedback from my readers made it my mission to help newcomers finding this post quickly. Feel free to ask any questions. I will try to answer them all. I apologize if you are not interested in this and I will not further disturb you.This comment has received a 0.02 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @flauwy.
@andrewlarson Steemit is awesome
I agree! It's a never ending treadmill of posts and pictures.
Never be just okay with average because if you just okay with average you're never going to grow.
True. But there has to be a balance. That's what I talk about in my article: If you just keep growing and growing endlessly you're really just a cancer!
Welcome!
You would find great people here
thanks allfabeta! cool name :)
My name is acronym from All For Better
welcome to Steemit Andrewlarson !! Nice post, i will follow your account, please follow me at @mekong
Thanks mekong. You gotta start blogging!
hello Andrewlarson:) Glad to see more people like you - here joining steemit! Becoming a steamian is a great adventure !! Here you can win money while bloging ! At the beginning it wouldn't be easy, but it isn't impossible. So just write from your heart and everything will be allright. ! Cheers! Greetings, @khunpoom !
This post received a 3.8% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @andrewlarson! For more information, click here!
thanks randowhale :)
you should never accept average. I think you might be doing life wrong.
You only seemed to have read half my title. "Will Set You Free To Be Incredible" is the other half.
Super wise advice by my newest following :-)
This is the very reason I'm so turned on by steemit.com
Try this on facebook and see what happens LOL
Welcome and Thank You for being with us!! Following your Blog now
Welcome to this amazing community!! Followed. Follow me back 😘