Once I get THIS, then I'll be happy

I just realized that we base a lot of our happiness on "once we get this".

My son was dying for a car last year, he couldn't stop talking about it for months lol. He got a 20 something thousand car and he was super excited. Cut to now, he's been restless for a WRX, he wants to trade his current car for this "dream car" and thinks ALL he'll need to be happy is to get THIS car.

A friend is dying to get THIS guy and make him settle. He's dating multiple girls but she NEEDS to be the one to get him, her life is revolving around this. There are 4 billion men out there who could probably be the one, but she thinks she needs THIS one, when they don't even align and she's always miserable and depressed.

Are we dogs chasing a tire? What will we do if we catch it? Is getting a dose of what we want the antidote to wanting it?

I'm not talking about goals, we should always strive for more. I'm talking about when we assign some "thing" the value of happiness.

"If I get my boobs done, THEN I'll be confident", "If I date and find someone who likes me, then I'll feel worthy", "When I retire THEN I'll start living my life".

You know what I mean?

Like do we waste our lives waiting for a specific outcome to feel the feelings we want, but then when we look back we see how much present we lost always waiting for the future?