We didn’t evolve to be happy all the time
Not feeling good all the time is natural, not a flaw.
Constant happiness isn’t the natural state for humans. To understand why our minds didn’t evolve to feel happy all the time, we need to look back across millions of years of life on Earth.
Around 2.5 million years ago, the first animals that resembled us appeared. Homo sapiens emerged roughly 200,000 years ago. For most of that time, nearly all of human history, we lived in small groups, hunting and gathering. This long stretch shaped our minds around tribal ways of living and relating, and many of our psychological traits today still reflect those early adaptations.
Imagine being an early human living as a hunter-gatherer.
Your mind’s main job is to keep you and your family alive in a world full of dangers, not to make you happy all the time. It pays more attention to threats than rewards because the downside of danger outweighs the upside of reward. Staying alert to anything that could be dangerous helps you survive. Constant happiness doesn’t. Failing to notice a predator, a venomous snake, or members from a rival tribe could cost you your life and your chance to protect your family. Anything that seems dangerous takes over your attention until you know it’s safe. Because it’s better to be safe than sorry, you tend to react to anything that seems risky, even when it isn’t.
Your mind is like a smoke detector. It sometimes warns you even when there is no fire.
Belonging to a tribe is essential for staying alive. Without the group, you face a high risk of being killed by a predator, attacked by members of another tribe, or not finding enough to eat. To avoid being pushed out, your mind works to protect you from rejection. It constantly monitors how others respond to you, checking whether you fit in or step out of line. It also monitors your value to the group, noticing where you contribute well and where you fall short. Unpleasant feelings arise when you miss the mark, motivating you to improve and strengthen your role in the group. Constant happiness would give you no reason to become more capable.
Your mind is like the warning lights on a dashboard, each signaling an area where you need to improve.
More is better for survival. More weapons provide stronger defense against other tribes, more food increases your chances during lean times, more shelter protects you from the elements and predators, and more children boost the odds that some will survive to adulthood. To keep you gathering more, your mind ensures you’re never fully satisfied with what you have. This sense of dissatisfaction drives action, pushing you to secure what you need, something constant happiness wouldn’t do.
Your mind is like a drill sergeant, constantly pushing you to collect more. Get more! Take it all!
The early human ancestors who lived longest and had the most children were those best at spotting and avoiding danger, staying connected to their tribe, and gathering what they needed. Over time, natural selection shaped each new generation with minds better suited to these skills.
That’s why your mind isn’t shaped for constant happiness.
