why on earth. . .

. . . do we tell everyone we're doing fine when we are clearly not fine?

My opinion: misery does not love company. Misery has company over all the time. Imagine seeing the same person day in and day out, with not a moment's peace. Not even in the bathroom. No one likes that much attention. But Misery's got it.

People almost enjoy being sad. If you see a happy person, you probably think they're a twit. Optimistic fool! Everyone knows life sucks! That's why we say we're fine: because everyone expects us to be fine. We've all got problems, why put the spotlight on yours like they're something special?

But does life suck, really? Or do we just make ourselves believe it sucks because our own little lives can feel like they've been flushed down the toilet? I think that maybe, maybe we really are fine. Maybe a lot of us make ourselves feel like we shouldn't be happy because that's just not cool these days.

Or maybe we've got the definition of happiness blown out of proportion. Maybe we think happiness is something that's constant. But happiness isn't everlasting, it comes and goes. As for misery, we can make ourselves depressed anytime for any reason. And it almost is constant, because we let it stick around. It's an old friend. Happiness is a mysterious stranger that comes over once in a while, has its way with you and takes off in the morning.

(I really don't know where I was going with that or if I even mean it.)