8. 12. 2020 @ 2119
I’m sitting in front of an acquaintance and they ask me, “So how are you?” I answer,
“You know actually, I haven’t been doing so well lately. I’ve got all these things going on and everyday a new problem seems to appear, so I feel like I’ve just been doing downhill since last week. I got a B- on my exam, I had a really bad lesson yesterday, I thought I almost had to go to the police because I thought my phone got hacked and stuff, and then I found out that I had a really REALLY bad cavity, so now I think I have to go to my dentist who’s about 2 hours away to pull out my tooth, really my life lately has been bad.”
You THOUGHT. No, in reality, I usually say, “I’ve been doing alright!”
– End –
When you’re with someone you’re kinda close with, but eh not really, how do you usually reply? I almost always feel obliged to simply say, “I’m well.” BUT depending on the person I’m talking to (but always with a person I’m not that close with), the way they react will be different. It’s usually one of these three:
- They think I’m boring as heck
- They think that I don’t like them
- They are actually not interested in talking with me or in my personal life, so happens to be very satisfied with the short and sweet answer.
I think I often feel obliged to give the simple answer because I’ve had so many experiences where people get easily exhausted as soon as I open my mouth about my personal life. So for the benefit of both my acquaintance and I, I tend to keep things simple.
But talking to friends is a whole different story. Asking “How are you” means, “How are you?”
Depending on how much time I have, I’ll reveal bits or literally everything that I can think of at the moment.
That’s all I have for today, until next time!
Update: 8. 14. 2020 @ 2245
I just thought of this while re-reading what I wrote – why can’t I just make an answer that’s interesting enough, but not so revealing and deep? That way, the person I talk to doesn’t feel too overwhelmed or burdened. Knowing me though, it’s not possible.
I can work on it though! Definitely will be more thoughtful from now on…
But should I ? Some people just ask out of kindness.. not genuine curiosity, and it’s (occasionally) very difficult to tell whether it’s one or the other… hm
a Sunday thought 