As we erect our Halloween displays and display our political signs this October we seem to be desperately seeking some sense of normalcy. But nothing is normal, is it? Louisiana just got hit by the 26th tropical storm of the year, Hurricane Delta. Over 4 million acres have already burned in California wildfires this year. And a deadly, highly contagious virus is resurging as Fall gives way to Winter. If that weren't enough in the political spectrum all decorum along with any sense of normalcy has been lost.
So how is one to cope?
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Hedonic adaptation is the tendency for humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major recent positive or negative events or life changes. According to the theory, as we make new memories our expectations and desires rise in tandem.
However, as 2020 slides into and probably infects 2021, try to take heart in one discomfiting fact: Things are most likely never going "back to normal." Politically the last 4 years were about as far from normal as imaginable but when the SARS-CoV-2 came along in late winter of 2020 it changed everything.
"Back to normal" has become a well-worn phrase our politicians, officials, experts, even family, like to lean on — an ultimate, elusive prize that is likely out of reach for years to come.
Perhaps it's nostalgia for the world of January, a place where daily life more closely resembled our past decades. Perhaps it's a bid to show control, to revert to a time when change was not so universally imposed upon us.
And so we erect our Halloween displays and political signs and pretend like things are back to normal.
January is long gone, and it's not coming back. And, psychologists will tell you, that's only bad if you can't come to terms with it.
Are COVID Changes Permanent?
We are slowly learning if this year's changes are permanent. If work — for the lucky among us — will remain from home.
If we will visit the grocery store less but spend more. If we will find wearing a mask at the store to be just part of life. If shaking hands and embracing will become less common. If most of your daily interactions will occur via video conference (rather than in person).
"Five years' change in six months" is a common slogan for the pandemic. The disruption has upended lives in jobs lost and relatives who live alone or perhaps died without saying the right goodbyes.
Yet permanently severing ties with January is not necessarily a bad thing, psychologists say. The danger comes from yearning for normalcy again, rather than getting on with working out how to deal with whatever is ahead. This is especially evident in political rhetoric this Halloween season.
People who suffer tragedies eventually return to their previous happiness level, but COVID-19 is a little different, because we keep expecting it will end soon. So there is no need to permanently change your attitudes about it.
Normalcy Bias
The human tendency to believe change is temporary and that the future will again resemble the past is often called "normalcy bias."
People who don't adapt to change believe what they remember as "normal" will return, and delay modifying their daily routines or outlook. Those who refuse to wear masks may be guilty of normalcy bias, since they perceive this intrusion into lives as a passing fad they don't need to embrace.
Hardwired to adapt
The brain's circuitry does prefer to survive, however: While part of our minds may be inclined to resist change as we feel disasters are a passing event, another stronger part of our brains embraces the new swiftly.
"Hedonic adaptation" is the elaborate name for why we survive: It's the mind's ability to accept quickly something in your environment that weeks earlier would have stopped you in your tracks. Originally intended to protect humans from predators, it's hardwired — so we do not constantly see all relatively new things as threats and miss the newer, bigger ones.
When both good and bad things happen, at first you feel intense emotions. Then you adjust and you go back to baseline. This is much more powerful with positive events. People don't adapt as completely to negative change in their lives.
My Halloween display this year includes well-dressed ghouls. One creepy clown is wearing Hugo Boss and Nautica. This, because, part of my adaptation has been a COVID-cleaning project. I'm whittling down my closets and repurposing things I will never wear again. I have to admit I did not enjoy chopping up that vintage red linen Hugo Boss shirt (value ~$200?). But it is cathartic to clean out one's closets. Embrace the change!
The benefit of hedonic adaptation is it works in all directions. Changes that alter daily life one month may be as quickly dropped the next when they are no longer relevant. It could be to adapting to the mask as the new normal, before dropping the mask, and then adapting back to the old normal.
The behaviors that stick are those that are wired into our daily routines, that are triggered automatically. If it's a real habit, it can actually maintain itself. Now we wash our hands more frequently without even thinking. That's something that could definitely stay with us.
It's the same with the previous generation who grew up during the Depression and are still particularly fastidious about not wasting food or anything else. It's a habit that stayed with them.
Life is essentially a series of changes and adaptation, and the latter is something humans do well. People tend to place more weight on whatever they are feeling in the moment.
Doomscrolling and F--k it!
Think of your vegetarian friend who started eating meat again when the pandemic made it seem pointless. Or another friend dyed her hair, without explanation. "She's like, 'Because f--- it. I'm just going to color my hair blue.'"
Humans sometimes overweight things, It's so wonderful, or it's so awful.
Its really not that bad. We will survive this too if we protect ourselves and adapt.
Our circuitry tends to override our doomscrolling, making us more resilient than most think.
As with everything, we will find out just how resilient we are, and the future may seem normal again, however different it is.
Above, my vintage c1990s jack-o-lantern is back on the front porch. I bought him the first year they came out in the crushed and reglued plastic form. I also have a mask around my neck at all times. Old and new. I'm fine with it.
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