I hear it quite often.
"I'm fine."
yet they are so obviously not fine. So I usually quote a line from the Italian Job:
"FINE
Freaked out
Insecure
Neurotic
Emotional"
Today I heard a new one from a young lady
"F***ed up
Interior
Normal
Exterior"
I prefer honesty to this rather blatant lie and I tell youth so. And so the response I get is, "I don't want to talk about it." I'm fine with that. I just go to work talking about random things, making jokes, stirring up memories. Although half an hour later the story is being shared.
Today after that happened the response was - "I knew when I saw you I should have bolted. I don't know why but when you are around I feel the need to open up. I hate you for that." Never before have the words "I hate you" meant so much.
When the conversation ended I felt blessed to have unexpectedly earned the trust of a young person, but my heart ached for where this person was at in their life.
