how are you, actually?
you know the version you give people. the short one, the tidy one. this is a chance to put down the other answer, the one that takes longer and doesn't wrap up neatly.
every day there's one live question, the same for everyone. answer it anonymously, see what other people said. it's all gone in seven days.
answer today's question →write "i am" and then keep going. don't aim for a summary. let it be contradictory if it is. you can be grateful and exhausted. you can be mostly okay but also not. write in fragments if full sentences feel like too much. try to get past the first answer, the reflexive one, and see what sits underneath it. if you find yourself writing "fine" or "okay" out of habit, cross it out and try again. this is the one page where nobody needs the short version. give it as many lines as it takes.
- write the answer you'd give your closest friend at midnight if they really wanted to know.
- list three true things about how you are right now, without softening any of them.
- notice the gap between how you look from the outside and how you feel on the inside, and describe that gap.
for anyone who has said "i'm fine" today and meant something else entirely.