Danny's Drivel

It amazes me how adaptable we are as humans. Studies have shown that most people have a general "baseline" of happiness and, regardless of what happens in their life, tend to return to that baseline. I'm too lazy to find the exact reference, but if memory serves, this study involved two people - one who had lost a leg (or legs) and the other had won the lottery. Initially, as you might imagine, the person who lost their leg(s) experienced a large decrease in happiness, while the lottery winner experienced an immediate increase in happiness. Duh. What's interesting, however, is that over time, both returned to their baseline level of contentedness. How can this be? The thought of losing a leg and never being able to walk or run (or jump on a trampoline!) sounds devastating to me. Conversely, just thinking about the amount of freedom/options I'd be afforded by winning the lottery makes me giddy. I suppose I've been thinking about this phenomenon as a result ...

Over the years, my presence on social media has gradually declined. Probably from painstakingly annoying (college days/early 20's) down to virtually nothing as of late. Having said that, I have toyed with the notion of blogging to an open audience with some regularity for a while now. (I say "open audience" because I do have a personal blog that I use for goal-setting, venting, etc) Why? Because I enjoy writing, mostly. I do, admittedly, have a poker blog that I never really got going...but I'd rather have a blog that isn't restricted to any particular topic. It can be fun to look back on life and remember what the hell you were thinking at any given point in time. I also want to get used to "putting myself out there." I don't exactly intend to write anything overly political/controversial/incendiary, but over the years I've been pretty adamant about avoiding situations that would open myself up to criticism. I'm reminded of a certain quo...