I'm fine.

I've annoyed a number of teenagers over the years by following up with, "So, what makes you 'fine' or 'good' today?" Almost without exception, they scrunch their shoulders and say "I don't know." One friend from college had a stronger reaction. She verbally pushed me away by saying, "Sometimes I don't want to know why I'm fine. I just want to be!" In those situations, the socially acceptable response of "fine" or "good" is actually a rejection of relationship. It shuts down openness by saying, "I don't want you to know more about me."

--William P. Smith, Loving Well (Even If You Haven't Been) (Greensboro, NC: New Growth, 2012), 34.