I’m far from good and lying about it constantly is killing me

I suggest you consider talking to your doctor or a mental health professional. If you feel a long way from ‘good’ some professional assistance might help improve your way.

I say what’s up when people ask. People don’t know how to respond/react or they laugh.

No one really wants an accurate answer. It’s just a greeting. Someone says ‘how are you?’ you say ‘grand’ then get on with your day. Same as when someone says ‘what’s happening?’ They don’t want a comprehensive list of your woes and such.

Then stop lying and say ‘could be better.’ gives the illusion it’s ok but not the best.

I’ve gotten used to saying,“I continue to be blessed with gainful employment” in my usual flat sarcastic tone. At a surface level it’s gratitude focused, but the context of my high-stress job and my deadpan delivery accurately communicates my stress level but in a way people find just humorous enough that it doesn’t stress them out further in turn. Communicating my inner emotional state in a way they don’t find stressful also helps create a very slight emotional intimacy that benefits the highly team-oriented nature of my work. On the other hand it allows both of us to maintain a comfortable emotional distance because it doesn’t really prompt any in-depth response or inquiries into my well being, just an acknowledgement that I said it such as,“I know, right?”

So I would maybe see if you can find a similar scripted / canned statement that communicates your actual emotional state in a slightly humorous manner. For instance if you work in a 9-5 office job people might respond well to “Whelp. It’s Monday alright” or “They’re gettin’ their money’s worth outta me today!” Exactly what sounds good with your overall “vibe” will vary and might take some experimentation to find. You can practice saying it in front of a mirror or under your breath and after a while it will just start rolling off your tongue with very little cognitive effort on your part.

Source: am high acuity psych nurse with a borderline personality diagnosis. I’ve had a lot of social skills training as part of my own diagnosis / treatment plus I’ve observed a lot of people’s behavior and had to learn a lot about team dynamics to do my job.

Best of luck!

The people from northern Germany have very honest, but simple way to answer this question.

„Na? Wie is?“ (How is your life going right now?)

„Muss ja…“. (It is going on because it has to.)

“I am enveloped by the cold embrace of the void”

I found out that the best way to make (certain) people stop asking it is to just be entirely honest for a change.

Don’t say “I’m fine, thanks. And you?” Launch into a depressing tirade about everything that sucks in your life and the world. Trust me, they’ll never ask again.

Heavenly peace.

Personally, I’ve come to despise the “How’re you?” greeting — it feels like it normalizes impersonal interactions and encourages the behavior of masking one’s emotions. When someone asks “How are you?” I want that sentence to actually carry the emotional weight that it verbally masquerades. So, if someone says “How are you?”, I just respond with a generic greeting like “Hi”.

As others have pointed out, the problem is “How are you?” on its own is generally a greeting not a question.

As such the answer is largely irrelevant - so while it doesn’t have to be outright lie, the answer shouldn’t be longer than a single statement and shouldn’t make the other person feel like they need to be concerned.

If you want a slightly less beaming answer you could go with “Alright”, “same old, same old”, “same as always”, or “Eh, could be worse”, or any of the other suggestions already made.

Then stop lying about it :

“Hey, how you doin’?”

" Everything’s bad, as usual, thanks"

Or

“Just as bad as yesterday, thanks, what about you?”

Or

“… next question?”

If it’s a client and can’t afford to be awkward, just say say

“Just another day”

And if people ask for more details but you don’t want to talk about it, just say :

“Just having a bad day”

Or

“Nothing good happened yet”

Or

“Nothing out of the ordinary”

Or just make up your honest but polite answers

This question is a piece of the small talk death conversation. I don’t feel it should be asked unless you want to know. But that is me. I also loathe small talk, I feel it’s for people who can’t handle silence and thus demand energy from other to full said silence.

Others ask it like it’s the equivalent of “hello”. Saying the truth is like hearing “hello” and then talking about your life. Saying “hello” back is done by saying “fine”.

Where this messes up the human metric is the habitual responding. A provider enters a room in the morning to ask a hospitalized patient how they feel. Instead of responding honestly the patient says “fine”. Provider leaves to move onto the next patient. After the provider is gone for that day the patient realizes their error, or doesn’t understand why the provider disappeared so fast.

It is infuriating. I’ve taken to answering the question more literal. “How” am I? Well, it depends who you ask but the leading scientific consensus is that our known universe began to take shape in what’s known as the great expansion. And then…

You gotta make people learn to stop asking you that.

“The horrors persist, but so do I.”

Your issue doesn’t seem to be the greeting itself. Please - talk with someone about your potential depression. Maybe someday you can say honestly “I’m OK.” and it’ll sit better.

I don’t, I rely an ready made sentences that require no effort on my part are that are not lies at all. Depending who’s asking when someone is asking me how well I’m I will answer (it’s in French)

• ‘Je vais bien, pas le choix!’ (I’m doing well, no choice!) or more often ‘Je vais toujours bien, c’est défendu d’aller mal!’ (I’m always well, It’s forbidden to feel bad!'). Edit I will more often than not smile, saying that.
• ‘Bien sur et toi?’ (sure, and you?) and, yep, I purposefully do not answer the question.

I don’t lie (I may even hint that I may not be doing that well, in the first type of answers) but I also shamelessly use the fact that most people don’t give the slightest crap how well I really am when they’re asking. That’s small-talk 101. Like saying ‘the weather is nice today, isn’t it?’

The less interactions I have with the kind of persons who rely on small-talk, the happier I’m. So, it never bothers me to be ‘polite’ as I know how efficient it is to shorten the time and energy I waste with them.