Certainly there must be counter-examples, if life was as easy as "do things that suck and you will be happy" we would have figured it out long ago. For example the vast majority of people in history had no chance to avoid doing things that suck, so they were very happy? Plenty of people in poorer places, militaries, worse factories, boy scout camps, whatevers, could only shower in cold water, did they all learn to enjoy it? I would suggest that the body has only a limited capacity to generate opponent processes. If everything in your life is cozy, do things that suck. If you already have to do things that suck, probably you are using that potential already. Right now there are probably soldiers in the waist deep cold mud who blow a donkey for a hot shower. Their opponent process capacity is probably all used up. But for super-comfortable middle class first worlders, a cold one is a good idea, they have untapped opponent process capacity. I know only one aspect of it. Intermittent fasting. No food for 14 hours and I a feel very weird. I would say, I am hungry. Yet for a lot of people in history of they had food in the last 24 hours that was not a bad day. 40 or 50, and they were indeed hungry. But 14? They would just consider that working up a good appetite. My point is, if I stick to it, I expect the opponent process to kick in, because probably there is enough capacity to make IF fun. There is probably not enogh OP capacity to make serious starvation fun.