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I know what you mean about leaving hedonism & adventure behind. Through biological evolution our brains have evolved to be long-term happy if you settle down and raise a family? (Source: random comment on hacker news that clicked for me)

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If You think that having family will make You long-term happy think twice. This is something that You cannot know up front - its a little bit like with extreme situations such as accidents or conflicts - no one knows how he will behave and how he will feel util the situation happens).

This family thing, especially with children, is a gamble and You can get unimaginable bad cards and there are no take backs. I may be skewed a bit because most people that I know become so unbearably unhappy after starting family that You would never want to spend time with them. For some it resolved itself (after children grow up and left home) and for some it destroyed their life.

absolute crap shoot

people think they're lucky

Happy isn't really a good goal. It's can be the result of a process, but aiming towards happiness as a goal in a of its self is mostly ruinous. There's ton of wisdom on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-or_D-qNqM

Right?

Me I'm aiming towards harmony with my life free of unnecessary suffering simultaneous with the same thing for my family.

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