The book Thinking, Fast and Slow by the great Daniel Kahneman details the concept of the peak-end rule. Basically, how an experience comes to end - negatively or positively - biases our feelings towards the entire experience. A television show can have an excellent run of seasons, but the entire series can be tainted if the final season is utterly crap.
Looking at you, How I Met Your Mother.
The tragedy here is in ignoring the majority that came before the end. You still suffered through six hours of hiking, even though reaching the summit gave you tremendous euphoria. The first two years of child-rearing was still full of suck, even though the five-year-old now gives you more joy than you can ever ask for. How I Met Your Mother provided nine solid seasons of laughs; a spoiled 10th season shouldn’t obviate all of that.
The peak-end rule explains why I am unable to look back fondly at my (all too brief) ownership of a Porsche 911 GT3. Because the ending is so crap. Making the decision to sell the car due to life circumstances has tainted the entire year and a half run. It didn’t feel like a good experience because of the action that ended it: I essentially sold my already attained dream car.
It would serve me well to remember that I did have 18 months of absolute fun with the GT3. And cumulatively, that amount of joy is exponentially greater than the pain of that week at the end when I made the decision to sell and sold it. This life of ours is full of chapters, with distinct beginnings and ends. We should try not let the disappointment of something coming to a close wrongly color the entire chapter.
And vice versa.
A very clogged toilet.