In the 15 or so years since I first started running, I've read, watched, and listened to a lot of running-related content. I've poured over training tips, course descriptions, race recaps, and gear reviews. I've watched others experience the same highs and lows in their adventures that I experience in my own, and I've tuned in to their advice and insights. There are certainly commonalities among runners when it comes to passion, commitment, and competitive spirit. However, I've often found that the real reason someone laces up every day and heads out the door is very personal. What is consistent, however, seems to be a belief that for them, running is a part of living a good life.
Psychologists have traditionally broken up the idea of a good life into two main camps. Those who focus on personal satisfaction through money, time, relationships, and a positive mindset are said to strive for a happy life, or hedonic well-being. Those who focus on societal contribution through moral principles, consistency, relationships, and religiosity are said to strive for a meaningful life, or eudaimonic well-being. However, perhaps there is a third way to think about the idea of a good life.
Researchers Shigehiro Oishi and Erin Westgage recently published research on the idea of psychological richness. Slightly different from a happy life or a meaningful life, "the psychologically rich life is full of complex mental engagement, a wide range of intense and deep emotions, and diverse, novel, surprising and interesting experience. Sometimes the experiences are pleasant, sometimes they are meaningful, and sometimes they are neither pleasant nor meaningful. However, they are rarely boring or monotonous."
This idea that a psychologically rich life is rarely boring or monotonous is an interesting one as it relates to human behavior and our search for meaning. Even when we describe ourselves as having a happy or meaningful life, it doesn't preclude us from being bored with the repetition in our lives. We settle into a pattern that works for us and provides us with happiness or meaning as we define it, and we stick to the schedule. In repeating those actions enough, the effort becomes easier and more commonplace. The challenge of learning something new has long since disappeared and we are left with the life we thought we set out to achieve.
Why, then, do people do things that they know have the potential to disrupt that happy or meaningful life. Partners cheat on one another, people make uninformed and extravagant purchases, and others quit their jobs to try something completely different despite knowing the risks. Psychological richness is strongly correlated with curiosity, engaging with positive and negative emotions more intensely, and the desire for new experiences. Oishi has spoken about our stories being the currency in a psychologically rich life. Even the most challenging experiences can help us grow and change the lens through which we see the world. The more impactful that story, the more we reflect on it and the more it is likely to change the way we see the world moving forward.
That change in perspective seems to be a key driving force in the desire for a psychologically rich life. This doesn't have to mean the change is life altering, however. The change can be subtle as we think about the cumulative effect of each of these experiences, whether good or bad, over the course of our lives. You can't step in the same river twice after all.
Over the years, my running has evolved in countless ways. I'm running further, longer, and in more incredible locations than I ever dreamed possible when I turned on that couch to 5K podcast for the first time. I've gained experience in races from 5K to 250 miles and continue to see out unique destinations and formats. I've run every single say for the last 7+ years and it's perhaps more a part of my life than anything else I do. I've also derived a great deal of insight out of all of these experiences, no matter the nature of the experience itself. Curiosity and a desire to see new places and challenge my body in new ways gets me out the door every day. For every beautiful sunset atop a mountain, there are hours of grinding on a trail during a thunderstorm with only the rain and darkness to keep me company.
Happiness and meaning will always be subjective, and it's human nature to often want what we do not have. I'm much more inclined to embrace the journey as it unfolds and strive for a psychologically rich life. That seems like a pretty good life to me. Not always easy, not always smooth, but always interesting!
