I thought it best to kick of this blog in a completely self-serving way, and explain just how I came to identify myself as a hedonist, and what this means for me as I go about my daily business. It seems fitting to begin by sharing a little fact about humankind, which was brought to my attention in an Introductory Social Psychology course I took...I feel it is made all the more poignant given that it is the sole piece of information I retained from the entire subject. The theory runs that there are two basic types of people in the world: those who seek pleasure, and those who avoid pain. Despite the obvious advantages (self-preservation etc.) associated with the latter, I have, for as long as I can remember, fit squarely into the former category.
From when I was a young child, negative reinforcement never worked on me. My well-meaning mother tried endlessly to coax/ threaten me into completing tasks, citing things like, "If you don't clean your room, no dessert for you!" To this, I would simply shrug my shoulders and walk away. What was in it for me? The pain of cleaning my abhorently messy room far outweighed the pleasure of devouring the watery iceblock sitting in the freezer! Fast-forward 15 years, and the situation is essentially the same. It is still near-impossible to make me do something that I see not intrinsic benefit in. Allow me to clarify: I never have trouble studying, or going to work, because I can understand the long-term benefits, even though at the present time there are things I would rather be doing on my Saturday night!
It is the mundane things I generally struggle with, the things which need to be 'thanklessly done', without any reward. However, while I have long accepted that this is my nature, powerful social norms have taught me that refusal to engage with normal human behaviours such as filing, cleaning and sorting is both unhelpful and self-centred. I have developed a method for making such jobs (slightly) more pallatable. Thanks to my stellar imagination, I have learnt to convince myself of some fabulous benefit arising from a particular task. For example, while cleaning my room/ the house, I have been known to dream about having it photographed for a glossy interiors magazine. This delusion usually lasts long enough for me to alphabetise my cookbooks, sort my shoes according to colour, and, most importantly, ensure that the floor is once again free from a mess of handbags, shoes and magazines that generally occupy it.
Additionally, I have placed a 'clause' on my hedonistic behaviour, which comes in handy in situations where the task at hand is outlandish (think skydiving), something that I absolutely, positively do not want to do. It can be summed up as the 'Try Anything Once Clause', and obligates me to engage with the activity no matter how hair-raising, death-defying, or generally unpleasant.
So what part does hedonism play in my day-to-day life? I can best sum up my view of the world as, "La vie en rose" (thank you for the phrase, Edith Piaf). I perpetually view the glass as half full (preferably with Moët), and constantly have my head in the clouds dreaming about future prospects and possibilities. Many people (rightly) remark that this is a naïve and overly-optimistic approach to life, but with all the horror and heartbreak in our world, surely there are worse crimes than looking on the bright side of life?
Thank you for indulging me and allowing me to explain the rationale for my blog. I hope you find reading it as pleasurable as I find writing it.
Bonne nuit!
Kat xx
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