This is a hard one to fully articulate. But essentially, I think that the mix of chemicals we have in our brain at certain points can be interpreted as totally different emotions.
Recently I’ve learned a lot more about dopamine and serotonin and other neurotransmitters and have come to understand them very differently.
The specific points I want to make here rely on related aspects of the two chemicals. Dopamine pushes you to act to improve your future. In general, it makes you think about the future and act now.
Serotonin, on the other hand, makes you think about the present. In general, it is produced as a reward for doing things well.
If I’m super productive all day and I get a ton done, I might be exhausted at the end of the day. But I generally feel contentment, or even happiness.
The dopamine is gone and I no longer feel like doing anything that requires effort. But since I was productive all day, I am content.
I might also be exhausted at the end of an unproductive day, however. And the feeling of having no energy to do anything while also having not gotten anything done all day is one that I generally interpret as sadness or anxiety.
So what is the difference between the two?
I think either way, you’re out of your dopamine. You don’t have the “energy” to get things done.
It’s possible that after a successful day, you receive more serotonin, and that’s what makes you content.
I would argue, though, that it’s possible the mix of neurotransmitters in your brain is exactly the same. That the only difference in terms of how you feel is simply due to differences in how you interpret how you are feeling.
They say that tons of emotions are just different interpretations of the same things. Nervousness and excitement, for example, are physiologically almost identical.
Are happiness and sadness really so different?
I think both are typically associated with a lack of energy. We think of happy people as having energy and being productive, which is likely true, but I suspect that while they are being productive, they would not describe their top emotion as “happy”.
Happiness is typically felt when you are at rest.
As is sadness. Which might explain people that seem like they are happy and positive and productive, but then describe feeling incredible sadness when they finish their day or when they are alone and resting.
Clearly there is more to it than this, and the exact combination of neurotransmitters and other chemicals in our brain that leads to different emotions is quite complicated.
But I just think it’s an interesting idea that how we interpret our emotions can make a huge difference.
For myself, I remember there was a long time where I had a lot of bad debt and I just couldn’t seem to shake it. Every time I was at rest and exhausted, I remember feeling this anxiety about it. Like, “I can’t rest because I have this huge problem”.
I can’t help but think that I still feel exactly the same way, but on days where I’ve been productive at least, I now interpret that feeling as contentment or even happiness. It’s like, “yeah, I did well today, and now I can just relax”.
Maybe it’s all part of how we, as humans, reward ourselves for a job well done, and punish ourselves for doing badly.
In my case, though, maybe I could reframe this. Maybe at the end of the day, I can focus on how I’ve been doing overall. Maybe I wasn’t productive that day, but if I can at least say that I’m on the right track in general, maybe I can always feel good.
We’ll find out!