How Do You Live a Happier Life? Notice What Was There All Along

As 2024 approaches, people look back to evaluate their lives and think about what can be done in 2025 to achieve a more fulfilled existence. In doing so, you may notice a puzzle: Why do you have some wonderful things in your life—perhaps a fulfilling career, a loving family, a comfortable home—but these things seem to have limited impact on your everyday happiness?

At the same time, there may be nothing so extraordinary around us—relationship breakdowns, online incivility, workplace inefficiencies—and it seems that we often get used to these disorders, so we’re less likely to try and change. .

In other words, we always stop noticing what was there. Here’s how you can change it.

Recognize the habit

Habituation is a fundamental characteristic of our brain – the tendency to respond less and less to things that are constant or frequent.

Imagine walking into a coffee shop. At first the aroma of freshly brewed coffee is noticeable, but after about 20 minutes, you can’t smell it anymore. Your olfactory neurons stop responding – they habituate. And just as you get used to the smell of coffee, you can also get used to more complex aspects of your life.

The challenge then is to regain sensitivity, both to the wonderful things in life that we can experience joy in, and to the terrible things we’ve stopped noticing that we could potentially change if we tried. So, how do we disMake a habit?

Break up the good

The answer lies in this wonderful quote from economist Tibor Sitovsky: “Happiness comes from the incomplete and intermittent satisfaction of desires.”

Consider a song you love—do you listen to it continuously from start to finish, or do you enjoy it more with short breaks? Ninety-nine percent of people say “no” to brakes. however, Research shows that people enjoy a song more when they listen to it intermittently. Why? If you listen to a song over and over again, the initial pleasure gets reduced over time. Breaks, however, induce isolation, so every time the song returns, the joy level returns.

We need to consume the good things in life a little at a time to combat the habit and get the most joy. Savor it instead of a Netflix show, a chocolate cake, or a new romance special.

Swallow the bad hole

On the other hand, if you have unpleasant tasks to complete—housework, admin work—do them all at once. Research shows that people suffer less if they have to listen to an unpleasant noise (like a hoover’s noise) continuously than if they take a break. If you experience constant noise, the initial “pain” will lessen over time. Brakes, however, induce isolation, so every time the noise returns, the level of suffering increases again.

Experiment in living

Are there aspects of your life that you suspect are inducing stress and anxiety, but you can’t really tell how much they’re affecting you because they’re always there, so you don’t try to change them? They loom in the background like the constant noise of an AC – you don’t realize how negative the noise is until someone turns it off and suddenly you feel a lot better.

Consider Social Media: Is It Affecting You Negatively? in one StudyThe researchers paid half of the participants $100 to leave the social media platform for a month, while the other half continued to live life normally. At the end of the experiment, the “exit” groups were happier and less stressed. Most of all, they were surprised. They didn’t realize the negative impact the platform had on them.

In 2025, lifestyle tests. Eliminate a few elements from your daily routine for a while, one at a time, and add some new ones. Measure and evaluate the impact on your life, so you can keep those traits that inspire happiness and purpose and discard those that don’t.