"How's Life Treating You?" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms

0:00 - How to Say, “How’s life treating you?”
0:18 - Examples of “How’s life treating you?”
0:48 - Meaning of “How’s life treating you?”
3:57 - More Examples of “How’s life treating you?”
5:31 - Conclusion

“How’s life treating you?”

You may have heard someone ask, “How’s life treating you?” which is a question about whether or not life is going well.

“How’s life treating you?” an acquaintance that you haven’t seen in a few years asks when you run into them on the street.

Perhaps you get back home from studying abroad and are having dinner with your sister and you ask, “It’s been two years! How’s life treating you?”

As you can tell, the idiomatic question, “how’s life treating you?” is one that you’d ask to someone you haven’t seen for an extended period.

“How’s life treating you?” is asked when you want to know how things are going generally for someone you haven’t seen in a long time.

We know that life doesn’t “treat” you in any particular way, though it does sometimes feel like it, when random good things or bad things happen to you.

The random things that happen to us in life are often ascribed to “luck”, whether it’s “good luck” or “bad luck”.

It’s not a nice thought, but life is unfair and life really does treat some people better than others.

Where you are born is the biggest unfair thing that happens to any of us; there’s going to be a world of difference for someone born in a rich country versus someone born in a poor country.

For two people born in the same country, however, one of them may feel that “life is good”, while the other feels that “life isn’t fair”.

This circles back to the idea of “luck”, as you will invariably feel that you are “lucky” if things always go your way, and feel that you are “unlucky” if things never go your way.

The good news is that you can “change your luck”! Life treats you how you want it to.

Numerous studies have shown that people who believe they are lucky, really are luckier than those who don’t.

This positive attitude toward life, this focus on good things, makes a person “lucky”. Life treats them well.

“Attitude determines altitude,” is an apt proverb to keep in mind if you want “good luck”.

In addition to asking how “life” is treating someone, you can also ask how a number of other things is going.

“How’s work treating you?” you might ask a friend who recently started their first job after graduation.

Perhaps you moved to a new city and you’re on the phone with a friend when she asks, “How’s Vancouver treating you?”

“How’s university treating you?” your dad might ask you via video chat, a few months after you moved away for school.

When you ask, “How’s life treating you?” but want to replace “life” with something else, just make sure that it is something “bigger” than a single person; such as work, a city, school, a club, an organization, etc.

“How’s life treating you?” you might ask a childhood friend. “Life is treating me well. I just got married and bought a house!”

“How has life treated you?” an old friend you haven’t seen in 40 years might ask you. “Life has treated me well. I have six grandkids now!”

Accordingly, the next time you see someone you haven’t seen in a long time, don’t forget to ask, “How’s life treating you?”

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