Winning the lottery sounds like a pretty life changing event. While coming in to an exorbitant amount of money might solve all of your immediate problems, would it provide long term happiness? Here’s a look into what the research suggests.

Long- Term Happiness

As much as you might think winning the lottery would make you the happiest person alive, the evidence doesn’t support this. This may be true for a short period, but ultimately fades with time. An article written for medoptionsinc.com states, “Research indicates that winning the lottery doesn’t make people happier in the long term, nor does it make them more likely to go on spending sprees that leave them broken and unhappy. Winners mostly report ending up about as happy as they were before winning.” This is both good and bad news. Simply put: winning money wouldn’t be the peak level of happiness you’d experience for the rest of your days. It’s comforting to know that you can be happy when you win and also be just as happy down the line. The down side is knowing that if you won, you’d likely feel the same as you do now. It’s a good incentive to create joy. 

Why?

Why would such a life changing event not keep you happy long- term? The above mentioned article goes on to say, “One explanation of why being an overnight multi-millionaire doesn’t bring long-term happiness revolves around how the thrill of winning wears off. Even extremely positive events cease to have an impact after a while. Lottery winners become accustomed to the additional pleasures their new wealth brings. Those pleasures soon become a new baseline on which the person judges their happiness. The greater pleasures become less exciting and intense because they become part of the new norm.” Human beings are extremely adaptable. This means that as you adjust to life with more money, it will stop being such a novelty. Eventually, you’ll stop being as excited by what you consider your new ‘normal’.

Law of Attraction

Some people think that comes to you through the law of attraction. It could be that happier people make or win more money. They have a positive relationship with it and therefore are open to more opportunities. Attract money to yourself by developing an attitude of abundance. Visualize yourself winning and see what the universe rewards you with.

Money might be able to buy a bit of happiness, but there’s a good chance it’ll only be temporary. However, if you find contentment and happiness in your day to day life, any money you may win in the future will simply add to the joy you’ve already cultivated.

The takeaway from these findings is that money is not the source of happiness. It’s important to find ways to create joy in your daily life despite your circumstances. If you win money, it’ll be an added bonus. However, you can’t rely on it to bring you happiness.