How are you?

For starters, I want you to read the title again and ask yourself something: how often do I actually answer honestly to how are you?

I'd be lying if I'd say I haven't had a bit of rough time these past few weeks. Its all just been a little much and I fell into this weird funk for an unusually long time. I'm not the best person at expressing my feelings and it can be hard for me to accept that I'm not feeling great. You can't always be at your best and things are going to happen that will get you down. I think I've come to learn that striving to be the best version of myself means letting ALL my feelings (the good, the bad, the ugly) run their course. Doesn't mean I'm all that great at it yet but baby steps, I guess.

Its really more about recognizing how you feel and finding the best way to process that for yourself. The key words being FOR YOURSELF. Everyone is different and everyone deals with things in their own way. Is it possible to develop and improve those ways? Absolutely but at the end of the day it has to come from you. That doesn't mean you have to do everything on your own.

Back to the question in the beginning. My answer is: not very often and that's totally fine. I'm not sitting here saying you should spill your heart out to every person that greets you. I actually had this conversation with a friend of mine a while back and it did help me realize something. The most important thing for me is to really stop, think and consider those words before I answer. I'm not the most open person but I really admire people who are. I do however have people around me who notice when I'm down and who I can open up to. And for them I'm beyond grateful.