Healthy Ancient Animal vs. Modern Isolated Human
Is modern life draining your batteries? In order to thrive, we need to start taking care of our inner animal.
Do you spend most of your days indoors, by yourself, looking at a computer screen, while wishing that you rather not spend your days this way?
Welcome to the club.
For most people, this is normal. And yet, it’s not really normal—at least not when you consider how humans have lived for thousands of years, and how we’re hard-wired to operate.
We humans are creatures that were designed to move, connect, and experience life in the flesh, interacting with our environment through our five senses. But today, we tend to live in ways that are completely unnatural to our primal selves. We’re isolated; we’re stuck in confined spaces under artificial lighting; our ears are hooked up to headphones and our eyes are glued to a screen.
I like to think of this as “modern isolated human,” versus “healthy ancient animal”—our natural, instinctual, primal way of being.
When you’re in healthy ancient animal mode, you’re operating as nature intended: no screens, no podcast playing in the background, just experiencing the world just like our ancestors did, in the flesh, out in the elements. When you’re in modern isolated human mode, on the other hand, you’re alone, indoors, on a screen.
Life isn’t quite so black-and-white, of course—it’s not all one or the other. But I share these two archetypes to help you visualize how your lifestyle stacks up, and how may or may not be taking care of yourself.
Most of us oscillate between the two in a healthy modern life with varying degrees of each at any moment. Very few people live full-time in healthy ancient animal mode, and I’m not suggesting that you should be (it’s almost impossible these days).
But I do want to suggest that we’ve gotten the balance wrong. Our hours are completely dominated by modern isolated human activities, which causes us to feel disconnected, anxious, and struck by the nagging feeling that something vital is missing in our lives. To be well, we need to honor and tend to the ancient animal within us—the part that craves connection, movement, and a raw, embodied experience of the world around us.
My advice: Let this archetype reclaim meaningful hours in your life. If you’re not happy or you feel like shit often, it’s time to do a quick audit to see if you have completely lost your ancient animal (and the truth is that most of us have).
Healthy Ancient Animal, defined
No matter how intellectually advanced or technological we humans become, we’re all still animals at the end of the day.
The Healthy Ancient Animal archetype refers to the primal, instinctual part of ourselves that thrives on natural experiences rooted in our evolutionary past. It encompasses the behaviors, needs, and activities that align with how humans lived before modern civilization reshaped our lives—no tech, no phones or AirPods, no TV. When we’re in this mode, aligned with this archetype, we’re living as nature intended.
A Healthy Ancient Animal lifestyle includes:
Connection to Nature:
Spending time outdoors, interacting with the natural environment—whether walking barefoot on the Earth, breathing in fresh air, or soaking up sunlight.
Physical Movement:
Engaging in activities that involve natural, unstructured movement—running, climbing, dancing, or simply walking. Movement that isn’t confined to a gym or restricted by modern exercise routines, but that mimics the varied, spontaneous ways our ancestors used their bodies. Based on this framework, working out at the gym would only be a partial win. It would be more of a win if the gym was outside and you weren’t wearing headphones.
Social Interaction:
Engaging in deep, face-to-face interactions with others, fostering connection and community. This includes communal activities like sharing meals, storytelling, or participating in group play and bonding activities.
Mindful Eating & Nourishment:
Consuming whole, unprocessed foods that are as close to their natural state as possible (of course, this isn’t always easy to procure these days). Eating mindfully, without multitasking, savoring flavors, and being in tune with hunger and fullness signals.
Sensory Engagement:
Fully experiencing the world through your senses—listening to natural sounds, touching different textures, smelling herbs and flowers, tasting fresh foods, and seeing the beauty of nature. This requires being present in the moment, rather than distracted by digital inputs.
Rest and Recovery:
Prioritizing restorative practices like sleep, napping, and relaxation. The Healthy Ancient Animal values natural rhythms of rest and activity, aligning with the body’s need for balance and renewal.
Reproduction and Sexuality:
Embracing the natural drive for intimacy and connection through sex and other forms of close physical contact. This aspect highlights the importance of fulfilling our innate need for touch and human connection.
Play and Exploration:
Engaging in playful activities, both physical and mental, that stimulate creativity and joy. Play is a fundamental aspect of being human, crucial for cognitive and emotional health.
Adaptation and Resilience:
Responding to challenges and stress in ways that build resilience, rather than avoiding them. The Healthy Ancient Animal isn’t shielded from discomfort but faces it head-on, adapting to and overcoming obstacles.
Modern Isolated Human, defined
The Modern Isolated Human archetype represents the part of ourselves that’s become disconnected from our natural, primal instincts due to our modern lifestyles. This mode of being encompasses the behaviors, environments, and activities that have emerged due to technological advancements, urbanization, and the shift towards a more sedentary, digitally connected yet physically (and often emotionally) isolated lifestyle.
Characteristics of the Modern Isolated Human:
Disconnection from Nature:
Spending the majority of time indoors, surrounded by artificial environments like offices, homes, and urban settings. Interaction with nature is minimal or non-existent, often limited to brief encounters or heavily managed green spaces.
Sedentary Lifestyle:
Engaging in activities that involve prolonged sitting or inactivity, including working at a desk, driving, or binge-watching TV. Physical movement is often limited to structured exercise routines rather than spontaneous, varied movement throughout the day.
Digital Overload:
Heavy reliance on digital devices like smartphones, computers, and tablets. Communication is often virtual, reducing face-to-face interaction and increasing feelings of isolation despite being constantly "connected."
Social Isolation:
Experiencing loneliness or a lack of meaningful social interaction. Even when in the presence of others, interactions are often superficial or interrupted by digital distractions, leading to a sense of emotional and psychological isolation.
Processed and Convenience Foods:
Consuming a diet high in processed, convenience foods that are far removed from their natural state. Meals are often eaten quickly, alone, and with little mindfulness, contributing to poor nutrition and a disconnection from the body’s natural hunger and fullness cues.
Sensory Deprivation:
Living in environments that dull or overstimulate the senses—constant artificial lighting, controlled temperatures, synthetic sounds, and noise pollution. There’s little opportunity to engage with the world through rich sensory experiences.
Chronic Stress and Burnout:
Experiencing continuous, low-grade stress from work, social pressures, and the demands of modern life. The Modern Isolated Human often struggles with anxiety, depression, and a sense of overwhelm, driven by an imbalanced lifestyle and disconnection from natural rhythms.
Digital Escapism:
Relying on digital media—social media, streaming services, video games—as a primary form of entertainment and escapism. These activities provide a temporary distraction but often deepen feelings of isolation and disconnection from the real world.
Which of these two lists does your life more closely resemble? For the majority of people reading this (on a screen, probably inside, probably alone), life has a lot more “modern isolated human” than “healthy ancient animal.”
You may not be entirely able to control the amount of time you spend on a screen or indoors or alone, based on your work setup and other things going on in your life. But there’s probably a lot you can do to start to shift towards the healthy ancient animal side of the spectrum.
Here’s my challenge to you: every day, commit to doing something that fits in the healthy ancient animal bucket. Leave your phone charging at home and go for a run in the rain. Put your feet in the grass. Go outside and soak up the morning sun. Jump in a river. Have a long, slow conversation with someone face to face—no screens, no distractions. Cook dinner with ingredients from the farmer’s market and eat it slowly, paying attention to every bite.
You can add more "tokens" into your healthy animal bucket by incorporating these kinds of simple, primal habits into your routine. These aren’t just quirky habits—they’re essential practices that bring you back to your roots.
This isn’t about abandoning modern life; it’s about finding a balance. The modern isolated human isn’t all bad, it’s led to many great things in this world. Most of my work involves sitting alone at a computer screen, this is a necessity for most professions in 2024. But when this archetype takes over, it leaves us feeling empty and depleted. By making space for our healthy ancient animal, we reconnect with a part of ourselves that is vital to our well-being.
What does this look like for me? It’s really about the small wins. I’ve started working out at the gym without my headphones. I spend 20 minutes every morning in my backyard taking in the sun with my feet in the grass, listening to the sounds of nature.
In fact, using my headphones less throughout the day has become a big hack for me. I’ve realized that there is so much connection available to all of us in our day-to-day lives. When we put our headphones in we signal to the outside world that we aren’t interested in that connection, and so the world won’t engage with us. This is such a missed opportunity. The world wants to engage with you, but you need to take your headphones out. I put the headphones away and try to strike up small talk (which sometimes leads to deeper conversations) when I go around town now. This has made a surprisingly big difference for my enjoyment in life.
Another one for me is breaking up the time I spend in my office alone doing busy work on my computer. This one makes me feel like shit if I spend too much time on it. If I had a big computer day at work, I’ll make sure not to spend the evening watching a TV show, once again being alone in a room in front of a screen.
When I’m committed to letting my healthy ancient animal get some time on center stage, I know I’ll be feeling pretty darn good.
Now let’s do an audit: What’s the breakdown in your life between the hours of being a modern isolated human and being a healthy ancient animal? Even one hour a day of prioritizing ancient healthy animal activities can totally change your life.
Let your inner animal out, and you’ll start to discover the liberating, enlivening feeling that comes from living your natural state.