Seeing Through the “I’m Fine” Mask

All right. Next, you know the story behind the mask before they speak

it. You look at someone, and you can feel their insecurity, their loneliness,

their need for control before they even finish their first sentence. It's like your brain

runs this silent little background program that goes, "Yeah, you're smiling,

but that's not happiness. That's I'm holding it together with caffeine and denial." Before they ever

admit they're anxious, you already know. Before they reveal the breakup, you can already

sense the grief sitting behind their eyes like a tab they forgot to close. You don't buy the

"I'm fine" mask, because your brain is scanning everything beneath it, the delay before