Picture this, you're casually doing everyday errands like food shopping or picking up prescriptions from a drug store. As you're doing your daily routines, you come across someone you use to speak to or someone who you just casually met the other day, they propose the question of, "Hey, How are things going?" What is the first thing you usually say to them? Take a moment and think about that for a second. If this was me in the scenario I would simply reply with the phrase "I'm good". That would lead to some small talk and we would both be on our ways. The truth is though, when I say the phrase "I'm good" chances are I'm not good but I still use it like everything is fine.
Now, I know I can't be the only one who says they're good when they aren't. However, what I came up with based on reflecting on my own life and others who say "They're good" when I clearly know they aren't is we simply don't want to burden the lives of others or we simply feel that the problems we're going through are trivial and are not of the utmost importance to others. This mindset can be very toxic to those who experience it though. Forcing them to go through everything alone in fear of burdening others.
That being said the "culture" behind the "I'm good" phrase needs to change and needs to be talked about because it's okay to have problems. It's okay to feel lost, but what's not okay is trying to handle all the problems alone. That is what will end up killing you. Rather that be a slow death or a quick death, doesn't matter. Open up and start talking before you reach your breaking point. I know personally, I have to work on the "I'm good" phrase and actually start saying what's bothering me but it's going to be a challenge and a long journey before I'm able to confidently say "I'm not good".
I think it's time to address what some people are thinking while reading this article at the moment. "Maybe some people are just good and you look into everything too much". You know what, you could be right, maybe I did look too deep into it. I'm known to over analyze and to overthink quite a bit so that's a possibility. I'm not denying the fact that some people can be "good." I'm simply explaining that based on personal experience if someone says "I'm good" and nothing more after that, chances are they're not good.
At the end of the day, just make sure to reach out to someone you trust and can talk to because no one deserves to struggle alone even those people who lie every time and say "I'm good" when their life is falling apart.
