“Feel better” is something we’ve gotten used to saying to sick people. The meaning is clear: you are sick, and I hope you feel better.

Let’s consider, for a moment, the implications of that phrase.

”Feel better” implies that one isn’t already feeling his best—and yet, aren’t we all feeling less than our best at all times? What would it even feel like to feel “best”? Would we even know? I don’t imagine such a thing is possible.

Knowing that nobody is feeling his or her best should really give us freedom to be more flexible with that phrase. If nobody is feeling “best”, then it stands to reason that “feel better” is a universally applicable phrase.

So I hope you feel better, friends—however you’re feeling now.