How truthful should you be?

We all tell lies. That’s an absolute – no matter how saintly you think you are, you don’t tell the truth all the time.

We might tell someone, ‘I’m fine,’ when actually we’re feeling a bit shit. We may not be entirely truthful when our partner asks how something looks when they’re trying it on in a shop.

The things is, though, most of us actually want to tell the truth more than we do, but our own ethics get in the way of things.

Often, we don’t want to alienate a work colleague, upset a friend or cause a family argument, so we bite our tongue or phrase things in such a way that we don’t cause offence.

Clearly, I’m not as blunt as Larry ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ David, but as I get older, I’ve become less and less ‘face-saving’ and am happy to say what I think more and more often. I’ve given up, most of the time, trying to steer clear of arguments and am happy to tell people what I think.

However, there are still some things I don’t pipe up about and, for the life of me, I don’t know why.

Maybe it’s because I can’t be bothered to fight with the person once I’ve told the truth, maybe I’m genuinely concerned about the consequences of my not lying.

Whatever, I guess I’ll never be able to be totally truthful with people…

2 thoughts on “How truthful should you be?”

  1. This is the thing about getting older – you care less what people think about you and consequently say what you think. But of course, if you’re sensitive – like what we are – there are places you won’t go as it’s just too dangerous.

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