Hi, How Are You?

Pet peeve: people who greet others with "Hey! How are you?" and then walk away before hearing a response.

Please, don't ask the question if you don't care. 

I try to throw people off with that question sometimes and respond.  Someone had asked me how I was doing once right after I'd completed a series of about thirty sneezes. So I replied that I was doing "sneezing." Yes yes, not correct grammar. But I think you get the point. At another time, I happened to be really hungry, so I replied by telling the person that I could really go for a sandwich. 

Those are the kind of answers I love to hear, and yet everyone pulls the blanket response of "good." I don't believe that everyone everywhere is always doing good. I want to see people, I want to know what's going on in their lives. I want them to know that I truly do care and truly do want to know what is happening in their world. 

This puts me in a frustrating position sometimes though. Because I feel I spend a good amount of time asking others how they're doing, I expect to be asked the same in return. I don't generally spout out my life without being probed. I like to know that people are taking an interest in me and I want to feel like they might actually care about what I have to say, so I typically refrain from speaking until asked. Thats why it means the world to me when I get a phone call or a text from someone who just wanted to see how I was doing. It warms my heart through and through. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen as often as I'd like, and I'm left feeling like I'm always making the initiatives to call people, check up on them, and maintain that relationship. 

I hate having a high emotional intelligence because my need to be emotionally cared for often goes unmet. I try to inquire about other people because I know what it does for me, and I know that people have all different types of gifts to be used in society. It's hard not to be selfish, and want everything that benefits me. 

But really, I wish we all learned how to love and care about each other more. We could all use a little more of that.