What We Get Used To

I was thinking the other day about the phrase, “I could get used to this.” How it’s the kind of filler thing we say on a perfect Saturday when we’re lying under a shade tree on a blanket in the park, surrounded by our favorite snacks and people and books. Or on vacation as we’re eating our second pastry of the morning at an outdoor cafe while a street musician plays a nostalgic love song. Or when you’re dogsitting and find yourself curled up on a sofa with puppies on either side of you and a new movie waiting for you to press play. 

“I could get used to this,” we sigh. “This is the life,” we claim. 

Science tells us that we do “get used to things.” The hedonic treadmill refers to the way humans adapt to their new environment or circumstances because as they achieve their goals, they also raise their expectations. And the treadmill keeps spinning. I remember reading about this when I first started studying Happiness in an academic sense at university. It reminded me of listening to your favorite song so much you get sick of it.

Which brings me back to reading in the park with friends or eating pastries in a foreign country or being surrounded by dogs… I don’t ever really want to get used to it. I want to think of every opportunity to see my friends as the wondrous, joyful thing that it is. I want to savor every chocolate chip cookie. I never want to take a dog for granted.

And yet. What in my life have I forgotten is a blessing? What in my life is so every day, that I forget it used to be my wistful “some day?” 

It’s nice to have goodness be so routine that we are used to it. But that doesn’t make it any less of a miracle.