What do you need a little more of these days: fun or fulfillment?
At various points in our lives, we experience significant transitions that prompt questions about what we’re doing and where we are going. Human beings (some of us, anyhow) have always thought about how to compose lives of purpose and meaning and we are in good company during these stretches. Aristotle (Greek philosopher, 384-322 BC) wrote on a wide range of topics including how to live a significant life – ideas that I find helpful today. Admittedly a gross oversimplification, Aristotle proposed that hedonia and eudaimonia influence our well-being or flourishing. Hedonia refers to happiness associated with the pursuit of pleasure, enjoyment, and pain-avoidance in the here and now whereas eudaimonia has to do with longer-term fulfillment through personal growth and living in alignment with virtue, our values, and purpose.
Contemporary researchers propose that hedonia (pleasure) and eudaimonia (fulfillment) are positively intercorrelated but distinct. Hedonistic behaviors are those that give rise to an immediate but brief sense of enjoyment or happiness like getting a massage or facial; purchasing something special for oneself; eating a delicious piece of chocolate cake; watching funny reruns on TV. Eudaimonic behaviors move us towards personal goals that are congruent with our true self, values, characteristic strengths, and aspirations. Examples include volunteering, performing acts of kindness, persevering towards a valued goal - if these endeavors are aligned with larger life aims. Eudaimonic endeavors seem to have a more durable impact on well-being than hedonic behaviors. (See Steger and colleages’ study here.) For my money, the best pursuits involve both eudaimonia and hedonia (like crafting with my Grand Boy, watching a movie with a loved one, writing a blog and fooling around with watercolors – obviously we’re talking about me here!).
Both hedonistic and eudaimonic endeavors are important to our flourishing. Sometimes the short-term happiness boost from hedonistic endeavors buoys us for the eudaimonic endeavors of growth and service. My guess is that people tend to favor one over the other and a little self-reflection helps us find our individual just-right balance. I’ve defaulted to eudaimonic activities for as long as I can remember and right now, I find myself skinny on fun and pleasure. As I’m recrafting a life in retirement and settling in for service to my family, I want to expand my repertoire of activities that just plump me back up and invest a bit more on the hedonia side of my balance scale. What a lovely assignment.
What about you? Do you tend to default to one type of endeavor over the other and is this the balance that works best for you? If not, what might you do to expand either your hedonic or eudaimonic pursuits?
Onward!
Sources:
Steger MF, Kashdan TB, & Oishi S (2008). Being good by doing good: Daily eudaimonic activity and well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 42 (1), 22-42.
Steger MF, Shin JY, Shim Y, Fitch-Martin A (2013). Is meaning in life a flagship indicator of well-being? In A Waterman (Ed), The Best Within Us: Positive Psychology Perspectives on Eudaimonia. American Psychological Association. Washington DC.