Behind the “I’m Fine” Response

Literally everyone is going through one silent battle or another, ranging from health challenges to finances, material needs, and marital issues, amongst many other things. However surprisingly, you'll be amazed to ask people how they're doing, and what you'll get is "I'm fine and all is well." I know that's mostly people's defense mechanisms to prevent their problems or challenges from getting out to the general public, but should that be the case all the time? Shouldn't we have someone we can open up to if not to get the problems resolved, at least to get comfort and assurance that someone truly cares about us? Below I'd talk about when last I opened up to someone and how it felt.

Just like most men, I'm a kind of person who doesn't like showing my vulnerability to others; I usually prefer to hide my pains with fake smiles while I cry in silence. But then when I know I can't hold it any longer, I share it with people close to me that I can trust; sometimes such people could be my friend, friends, siblings, or even my parents; it all depends on the situation and who I feel is the right person to share them with. But then it's worth noting that I'm not like I used to be years ago; now I'm much more flexible and tend to share most of what I'm going through with people, just that I might not go into the entire details.

Talking about the last time I shared what I'm going through with someone, it was actually just yesterday, although it's a simple case, but then I know I or a few years ago wouldn't have even shared that with anyone but found a way to resolve it myself silently. So what happened? Well, it turns out that on the fifth of May, I received an alert that MTN Nigeria paid dividends for my shares to my bank account, and that made me see my total balance. But surprisingly, yesterday, which happens to be the seventh of May, I withdrew one thousand naira from my account and found out a whopping 20,000 was missing in my account. I checked the alert on my phone, and there was no track of how the money disappeared.

I checked my bank app, and the same was the case, so I immediately downloaded my bank statements, and still there's no actual way to pinpoint now where the money disappeared. It makes me immediately angry and uncomfortable; it was even noticeable in my attitude around the house, and when I realized my wife was somewhat uncomfortable about it, I had to let her know what I was going through, and then she advised me to visit the bank for clarification. Although I haven't done that, I felt more at ease after sharing it with her, knowing fully well that they'll help me trace how the money disappeared from my account.

All photos are mine.