Name: Why I stopped chasing pleasure (and how to break the cycle!)
Uploaded: 2026-02-11T00:54:42.000Z
Duration: 8 min 8 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

When you hear the word pleasure, what pops into your mind?

Gerund

For me, it's the feeling of sitting by the pool on a sunny day reading a good book.

The comparative

But then pleasure evolved into something entirely different over the years.

It was no longer about indulging in these feel good moments, but

Doom scrolling on social media, checking for notifications, online shopping or online browsing.

It's not the pleasure that I was after, but

it's a cheap dopamine that's accessible to me at any time.

Maybe our brains are wired to always seek pleasure.

But what a shame that pleasure is now getting reduced down to its lowest denominator and not in a good way.

I never want to be desensitized to the beauty of a sunset or lessen the feeling of the first bite into a chocolate cake.

And if you're like me and want to stop substituting real pleasure for cheap dopamine, then I hope that these tips will be helpful for you too.

I remember how I used to spend my dead time before I had a smartphone.

Specifically in between my college classes.

I would sit on the grass and just watch the world go by for hours.

Nor did I feel the need to do something to pass the time.

I get that the world was different back then, but

I also know that this urge to fill my time is a learned habit.

So I knew that I could reclaim that leisurely mind that I once had.

Something that's helpful for me is to intentionally fill the gaps in my day with a specific purpose instead.

Whether it's a 10 minute workout, taking 5 minutes to organize my pantry, or using that extra 15 minutes to go for a walk, it's not about being productive every minute of the day.

But I figured doing something purposeful is better than giving into my urges.

Another thing that's a work in progress is lessening my mental clutter.

Part of the reason why I always wanted to distract myself is because I wanted to quiet the inner voice saying, why did you say that thing to that person?

You need to clean up that junkyard Cleanup.

When are you going to figure out how to schedule that in?

Sure, simplifying my life and responsibilities helped immensely, but we're a little bit more complex than that.

I think what is helping is deciding how to react to these thought bubbles when I remember that I have to do something.

If it takes less than five minutes, I try to take care of it right away.

And if it's out of my control or none of my business, I tell myself just that.

But taking myself out of the situation and letting the thoughts just pass by has been really helpful.

And now, even in the silence, I'm approached by a much kinder voice and I don't try to run away from it.

A couple years ago I remember reading this article on dopamine and it explained that when you start your mornings by checking your phone, you're more likely to be searching for cheap dopamine all throughout the day.

I believe how important it is to start our mornings right, so I took this advice seriously.

I always try to delay my gratification for my morning coffee until I get up, journal, do a few chores, go for our morning bathroom walk.

This is just a little way to keep myself in check so so that I'm not controlled by my urges all throughout my day.

We're so used to instant gratification for everything in our lives and maybe we have forgotten the sweetness of anticipation or contentment.

I believe that there are even more levels to pleasure and I want to savor every part of it.

Do you guys ever make a big goal for yourself but get stuck and end up not doing anything at all?

If so, you're probably a perfectionist like me or get very overwhelmed easily.

I'm such a rebel that I would actually do everything else except make any progress on my actual goal.

I would browse through my favorite shopping sites, doom, scroll on social media and read all the news articles until time passes and I don't feel motivated anymore.

But now when I find myself looking for distractions, I recognize that my goal is probably too big or too vague and I work on narrowing it down.

What is the next step I can take without resistance?

Instead of hoping to redo my entire website, I tell myself that I need to just edit my bio today and instead of scheduling a run every day for 20 minutes, I just tell myself extend the walk with the dogs, then run after if you feel like it.

Taking baby steps and it has helped me so much to avoid st.

Escapism and now I can actually focus on the real task at hand.

I get why we want to opt for cheap dopamine instead.

It's all about the present moment and how we feel now because we don't know where the world will be tomorrow.

But my fear is that we would slowly become desensitized to real rewards in life, the ones that genuinely fulfill and satisfy us.

I never want to stop feeling pleasure and happiness from seeing the ocean, cuddling my dogs or wearing my favorite dress, catching the breeze and going for a long drive.

So much pleasure can be felt even from the simplest moments.

But being absorbed in the digital world and having access to anything and everything we could want.

I get that it's easy to confuse what is truly a reward.

Our brains might not know the difference, but I truly believe that our souls know.

So if you've been feeling out of touch, I highly encourage you to disconnect for a bit and truly redefine what you want to consider a reward in your life.

It's going to be an ongoing process to figure out how we can coexist with tech in a healthy way, but

it's also exciting and fun to try different things to see what works and what doesn't.

Please join this slow living community by subscribing to the channel.

I hope you take care of yourselves and I'll talk to you very soon.