“You’ll be fine”
… Is actually not consoling at all. Think about it, it’s kind of disappointing, an anti-climax… No matter how much we blow up our insignificant little issues to justify calling them ‘problems’, we’ll always be fine, eventually. And we know this. How boring is that?
“You’ll be fine, unfortunately. Your trivial little life will carry on, as will everybody else’s.” Unless, of course, if you actually die. But then nothing will bother you anymore, which renders you fine again, only in a non-corporeal state.
What we actually want to hear is :
“Oh my god!! You, my friend, are in seriously serious shit! You better do something pronto! Otherwise your life will be drastically altered forever and ever!!! This is the defining moment in your life and I have absolutely no idea how to help you, because I am not you. You gotta figure this out on your own, dude, and be the hero at the end! You can do this! Here, take this, it’s a super-charged shiny thingamajig that helps you get your shit straight. I will be rooting for you, buddy. Godspeed.”
And when we do then return to the ‘fine-state’ we will feel a sense of accomplishment, success, maybe a nice dramatic score in the background while we stand victorious in our own life, elixir in hand.
The truth? There is no elixir. No palpable one anyway. Thus, when asked how you are doing, save us all the time and respond with a friendly “I’m fine.”
