Sometimes I think we created mental health problems when we sold people the lie that you can be...

What you are saying seems very wise to me.
My daughter struggles a lot with her mental health and one of her big sources of unhappiness is exactly that: she wants to be happy all the time, and it seems to really hurt when, naturally, a lot of the time she isn't.

I often think of the thought experiment, if a safe drug were available that would make me blissful all the time -- regardless of what was going on in my life, among my loved ones, or in the world -- would I take it? 24/7? I hope I would have the strength of character not to, because that would actually be a really limited life.

Justmeraeagain · 56-60, F

Our generation was different we knew happiness isn't something that was a constant.
Although, later, materlism was thought of as happiness, which it definitely is not.
But ,we were taught the fairy tales of love being blind and perfect and all would be right if we found the right partner.
Relationships require some maintenance, patience, and mutual affection and concern from both partners.
There is no perfect woman and no prince charmings.
Just two flawed individuals.
Lots of unhappiness came from those romantic ideals.

BlueVeins · 22-25

Ya "shouldn't" be happy all the time, but you certainly shouldn't be sad or angry or nervous all the time either. You're right that social media has seriously warped people's expectations though, and made them feel inadequate in a variety of ways, including about their emotional states.

GuyWithOpinions · 31-35, M

I think commercialism and marketing is whats giving us a false sense of what happiness is and were we get it from. People these days are so addicted to money and instant gratification they think happiness comes from having material items or social status. This is not the case. We have just been conditioned to believe this. So when we want to feel better about ourselves we think we do it by buying something rather than trying to figure out and solve our problems over a period of time. You can be happy all the time if you condition yourself to be in that state of mind. But you have to learn to let things go and actually fix your life problems.

greenmountaingal · 70-79, F

Good mental health is not about feeling happy 100% of the time. It's more about having the good times outweigh the bad and, at least in our eyes, be more important.

basilfawlty89 · 31-35, M

That's actually the main theory behind Acceptance and Commitments Therapy. You need to accept life isn't always smooth and it's okay to feel negative emotions. There's a book I was reading about this called The Happiness Trap.

TheOrionbeltseeker · 36-40, M

For me, happiness is surviving everyday. I am not a good planner of the future events.

pentacorn · F

while some are obv organic/genetic/or induced by injury or illness, i think you're right about people not realizing that being happy all the time isn't obtainable/normal. in fact, i think the space between happiness and sadness is probably the state we should be striving for, because there are such things as positive stressors, not just negative stressors

SW-User

& anti depressants they fake you being happy

hunkalove · 61-69, M

Wise words.

Casheyane · F

Happiness is fleeting. And true happiness only lasts moments, but they're enough to give you strength to keep going.

Queendragonfly · 31-35, F

It's a matter of hedonism verses eudiamonism.

LordShadowfire · M

It's no accident that I'm just now finding this.

Sometimes I think we created mental health problems when we sold people the lie that you can be happy all the time..