r/mealtimevideos

"How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks."

Both people know it's not true, but we maintain the fiction anyway because the alternative seems unbearable. Imagine if people actually answered honestly: I'm terrified I'm wasting my life, I hate my job, my relationship is dying.

We've normalized performing competence and satisfaction so well that we start believing everyone else's performance is real while knowing our own is fake. We see the rising data on anxiety and depression, yet the feed shows everyone living their best life. The math doesn't work.

Why are we so terrified of dropping the mask? Is it because the moment you do, you become "the negative person" or the energy drain?

Why Everyone Else Seems Happier Than You