"I'm F.I.N.E."

"Are you okay?" is one of the gauges that someone took a peek inside the entwined feelings of a distraught being versus the automatically blurted-out conversation opener "How are you?" I try ever so hard to put on my happy mask, but it just won't happen...moreso when I am desperate to hide the confused side of me. My transparency is what makes people see as to where I am in the so-called wheel-of-fortune (or should I say misfortune?). Sheesh...

What's worse is I most often than not respond the ever famous "I'm fine..." then a fake smile...then an inner sigh. It's a hard habit to break.

I suddenly remember Italian Job mentioning that it's short for saying "I'm...Freaked Out Insecure Neurotic and Emotional"...maybe I am...

Let me share some more "fine" versions:

• Feeling Inadequate, Needing Encouragement
• Feelings Inside Not Expressed
• Fickle Insecure Neurotic and Emotional
• Foggy Insecure Neurotic Emotional
• Fouled Up, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional
• Frustrated Insecure Neurotic Emotional

The next time you hear me say that...stop for a while, decode my smile, look me in the eye, and take a peek inside my soul...