My experience of 144hz is that in terms of seeing a difference, it's not much. I mostly see it when looking around a scene and the movement is more fluid. However, what you can notice isn't as much as what makes a difference in games.

I tried the dust2 awp test map on 60hz and 144hz. The difference with how many I could hit with 144hz was not down to chance and was quite repeatable. I think (and it's just a layman theorizing here) that unconsciously our muscle memory, or hand/eye co-ordination are working on cues beyond what we consciously see. And this is why it helps for split second game decisions like this.

My opinion is, if you cannot see the difference consciously and you don't play FPS then maybe you should de-prioritize refresh rates over other monitor features. There's nothing wrong with that.