We need to embrace our negative emotions 

Researchers worry we are losing the ability to accept everyday distress by labelling the feelings as toxic or associating them with mental illness

Niamh Jimenez. Pic: Moya Nolan

There seems to be only one way to answer the question “how are you?” that obeys the unspoken rules of polite conversation: “I’m fine, thank you.”

The suggestion from a researcher at Johns Hopkins University to swap this courteous formula for something that reflects how we are actually feeling — “I’m sad, thank you”—is almost unthinkable in ‘grin and bear it’ Ireland.