hedonic treadmill

this term was in the Sunday Times Magazine.
It is a useful term of art; it also sits well on the tongue.
It defines the concept that no matter how many goals one achieves, and how much stuff you accumulate, we are wired so that happiness is always at the next point in the future rather than in the honest present. It is as if carpe diem is against our nature, and something learned.. Similarly, I think it can be used to mean when you are on the beach and you never think you are tan enough. Or, after drinking loads of alcohol, you think one more drink would just be great. Or, as we say in single speak BBD: Bigger, Better, Deal [moment of], when you realise a guy likes you and he will continue to ask you out on dates and your excitement of the chase becomes 21 grams lighter and you begin to question if you really like him after all or think you can find a better specimen to meet your needs.

However, in your 20s this happens all the time. In your 30s, you move past and through this exhilation of pure adrenalin. The substance does not scare you so much. At least that is where I find I am. in the honest present.