Science Says It’s Totally OK To Spend All Your Money On Travel
We’ve been telling our parents this for years – now, finally, there’s some science to back us up.
Psychological research from Cornell University in New York has confirmed the key to happiness is through experiences rather than things. The two-decade study was led by Dr Thomas Gilovich, who says that one of the key underlying differences between our value of experiences and objects is adaptation.
[related_articles]11565,11565[/related_articles]“We buy things to make us happy, and we succeed. But only for a while. New things are exciting to us at first, but then we adapt to them.”
Basically, we get used to the things we own and, over time, the happiness we derive from them dwindles.
On the flip side, happiness that stems from things we’ve done actually increases over time because those experiences shape our identity. (It’s why the baby pink Nintendo DS you relentlessly requested for your 20th birthday now sits buried and forgotten somewhere in a bag beneath your bed, whereas your four-month jaunt through South America is still recalled often and fondly, years later.)
[related_articles]59984,57369[/related_articles]Gilovich suggests, instead of saving for that plasma screen TV, spending your money on experiences like travel, outdoor activities, new skills or exhibitions, is a much sounder path to happiness.
“You can really like your material stuff. You can even think that part of your identity is connected to those things, but nonetheless they remain separate from you,” says Gilovich. “In contrast, your experiences really are part of you. We are the sum total of our experiences.”
Check out Qantas flights and begin your next adventure.
(h/t FastCoexist via Traveller)
