When “How are you?” is not a good question.
(Warning: Not particularly cheerful.)
This is one of those things I really hate about my parents (and by extension, society): they ruined emotional honesty for me.
I’ve had depression since I was eight or nine, but whenever I tried to answer the question about how I felt with the truth I was told that wasn’t the right answer and I should always say I was fine. It’s really no wonder I can’t explain my emotional reactions to things any more.
Yeah, this is a social nicety that drives me up the wall. It’s such garbage, and frankly it pisses me off because I feel like people are asking me to lie to them when they greet me this way. So I always answer truthfully, as a matter of principle. And when I ask ‘How are you?’ it’s not a polite greeting. It’s always because I honestly want to know.