Careful With Luxuries

August 9th, 2012
People are always asking "how did I ever put up with that?" Now that we have a dishwasher I don't want to go back to washing up by hand. Now that I have a smartphone, the idea of waiting for a bus without knowing how long it's going to be sounds very unpleasant. Having a light laptop I don't know how I managed carrying around a heavier one. Things slip from luxury to necessity as I get used to them, but the peculiar thing is I'm not any (much?) happier. [1] Once something becomes a necessity it's very hard to give it up. Which means I should be cautious about accepting new luxuries.


[1] Not to imply that I'm unhappy; I'm lucky to have a good life and a high happiness set point. Just that I'm about the same as I was back when I didn't have any of these things I would hate to have to do without.

Referenced in:

Comment via: google plus, facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Tuberculosis Considered As Dating Strategy

Against some evopsych

via Thing of Things July 8, 2025

Retrospective on life tracking and effectiveness systems

I’ve been doing life tracking for around 10 years, and this post is looking back at some things I learned from the data (since my previous retrospective in 2017). Highlights include what I get out of the Oura ring, correlations between sleep and deep work…

via Victoria Krakovna July 4, 2025

Elixir's Last Dance

On May 18th, the contra dance band Elixir had their last gig ever. The dance was packed: there were three hundred people. It was the only dance BIDA has ever done where they sold tickets. People flew from across the country just to hear Elixir play one la…

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts June 5, 2025

more     (via openring)