The How Are You? Revolution

How are you? Good, How are you? Good.

You’ve heard it thousands of times and the words just seem to spring out of your mouth automatically when you do. It’s that 2-phrase exchange at the beginning of every meeting that you have to get past to reach the real conversation (or even more small talk). Sometimes people will substitute a ‘great’ or ‘I’m okay’ but that is usually the extent of variation.

Why do we do this??? It is so fake, routine and antiquated. Most of the time neither person actually cares how the other is doing so why the consistent empty question?

I care less about why and more about how we can turn this fluffy tradition on its head in true HighExistence style :) I see two possible ways of doing this: changing your answer and changing the question.

Alternate Answers

– Anything that is more energy-filled than ‘good.’ Fantastic, Amazing, Awesome, Spectacular, etc.  My favorite is ‘Fucking Phenomenal!’

– Joke around a bit: “Just horrible… I’m just kidding! How could you complain on a day like this?”

– Give the person more than they asked for. Talk about some event from earlier today or maybe spout out some life philosophies.

– Just be honest. If you’re having a shitty day, say so. It’s hilarious how some people will respond when you actually open up to them.

Alternate Questions

– Simply change up the wording so the person might think twice about giving the routine answer, eg. ‘How has your day been so far?’

– Make the question more specific so that ‘good’ doesn’t fit the bill, eg. ‘Have you had a nice morning so far?’ There will be those few that just say ‘yes’ to this question and there is just no hope for those people so don’t be discouraged.

– Hit them with a compliment instead of a question, eg. ‘I’m doing extremely well. Say, you look extra lovely today!’ This one sounds a bit idealistic but if a compliment comes to mind, it’s a great way to mix-up the conversation.