Are we all suffering from Anhedonia?
Nowadays, we usually hear people talking about how they are not able to have that feeling of happiness or pleasure; this is called anhedonia.
We don’t seem to like the food we waited for the whole week to enjoy on a weekend, I think in my country that would be biryani.
Well, we had goals we wanted to achieve so badly that we never had a complete sleep cycle, and today, when we achieve that reward, we are not happy enough that we used to be, aren’t we?
Some of us were so energetic, sweet, and helpful, but now I rarely see them, well, not rarely, but I do see them on social media, they are doing it for views or from the heart, really, no idea.
Get WT’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
We are so affected by it that we are not feeling any grief or loss of our loved one, or any sympathy for the people suffering from any disease. The reason I see is that cancer is very common, people with mental disorders are very common, people with infections leading to septic shocks are very common, genetic disorders are very common, which are actually life-threatening, and you hear ADHD and autism a lot.
We got used to these because maybe during COVID-19, we adapted our brains to isolation, we stayed in our rooms without any social contact, we got food at our doorsteps, we did not help others in need because we wanted to live. Just like in movies, we see a pandemic, the whole world shuts down, but there is a specific place where everyone is healthy. Now we think we are in that safe place, and that is our luxury. We even now see reels about how learners or students stay at home all day, drinking and eating unhealthy food, sitting at the same place for hours, and actually showing that this is good and this will help you succeed.
How our parents used to run the whole house on that little wage, and now, when we have an actual 9–5, one or two side hustles, it is still not enough to make us satisfied. I am not talking about luxuries, which are totally due to the increasing costs and inflation, increased population, and many other factors. But the feeling of being satisfied with a home meal cooked by mother was a blessing.
Many of us have also awakened from these thoughts, shut down our social media, researched about what is good for us, made our own gardens and dairy products, running healthy food and products business. They are out of the habit they made us addicted to, to monitor us and mislead us.
But most of us are still trapped in this; we see different content creators and want to have a life like them, but as they do not show the problems they have faced, we think all grass is all green.
These are some changes we adapted to our lives very quickly after the pandemic. I wonder how the elderly people living on an island in Japan feel sufficient enough for each other, not living with their families, helping each other, having the best time of their retirement life, as discussed in the book Ikigai.
It feels as if we never felt happiness. Doyou feel the same way?
