My friend told me on Sunday that his dad was a little worried after reading this post. “Hey, uh, is Rob alright?” I thought it had some humor and a little distance. Apparently not.

It’s not the first time that someone has asked that about me.

One time, during an internship I had in college, I sent an email out to my friends. I didn’t have much work that day and I was incredibly bored, so, I just started typing, “All work and no play makes Rob a dull boy,” over and over again. I typed the sentences to form different shapes. I filled a couple of pages with it. “All work and no play makes Rob a dull boy.” I thought it was apparent that I was making a Shining joke. Apparently not. My friend Tim asked my friend Pat, “Hey, uh, is Rob alright?”

I do have a habit of leaning on my friends when I’m in a bad mood and it’s unfair of me to do. I’ll put forth something self pitying hoping they’ll contradict me. It’s the self esteem version of saying, “Oh my God, I’m so fat,” just so your friends will say, “No you’re not.”

The only problem is when you say, “Oh my God, I’m so fat,” and your friend pauses and says, “Uh… well, I think you look fine.” Then you get offended.

One time, while chatting with Pat, I said, “Man, I think I’m clinically depressed.” He said, “You should get some help, then,” which snapped me out of it. “I’m fine, man,” I said, “just having a bad day.”

When people ask me about therapy one of the first benefits I mention is that I’m better to my friends because now, instead of passive aggressively asking for validation, I save that crap for my therapist.

So, this is basically the long way of saying, yeah, I’m totally fine. But if I’m not, you’ll know, I’ll be annoying the hell out of you.