There are several things we all lie about on a regular basis. Why do we do it? We say we want to become closer to people, yet we lie, thus preventing people getting closer to us. It’s strange how the mind works! Here are a few things we all lie about all the time.
One of the things we all lie about is our family life. We all have dysfunctional families. Furthermore, we all know that we all have dysfunctional families. Then why do we always feel the need to project the image of a perfect home life and a flawless family? Most of us lie about details of our family life. Sometimes it’s something small like what your parents' occupations are and sometimes it’s big, like why no one really ever talks about Uncle Roger.
Not only do we lie about our own weight from time to time, but we lie to our friends about their weight too! How many times have we said “Oh my god... What are you talking about? You’re so skinny!” to your friends who said “I’m thinking about losing some weight”? Do your friends a favour and let them enroll in a gym membership – not only will it help boost their self confidence and help them live a healthier, active life, but it will encourage you to go to the gym too if you’ve been thinking about doing so for a while.
When we were younger we lied to our parents about how our money was spent. Now that we’re older, some of us lie to our partners about how our money is spent. Some of us might even try to lie to the government about where our money is coming from, how much we’re actually receiving and where it’s going.
Some people, especially women, take offense to people asking them what their age is. I wonder why that is. Do we feel if we announce our age, people will compare our age to our life’s achievements and judge how much or how little we’ve accomplished? Regardless, many people shave a few years off their life when asked their age... how ironic though! When we’re younger we lie about being older and when we’re older we lie about being younger!
How many times have we been told we’re too lazy, too rude, too talkative, too quiet, too sensitive, too this, too that... and we got defensive about it? Rather than embracing our good qualities and bad qualities, we lie about our bad ones. Maybe it’s because we’re in self denial or we are aware of our traits but find them equally as unappealing as everyone else.
Sometimes you just have to fake it until you make it. However, some of us, even when caught red handed, lie through our teeth to avoid any kind of consequences. What can we say? It’s part of our instincts to protect ourselves and no one wants to face harsh, or what seemed to be harsh at the time, consequences.
When everyone else spent New Year’s Eve at a penthouse drinking cocktails in their fabulous, expensive outfits, you weren’t very eager to admit that you spent New Year’s Eve alone watching TV. We’ve all told a white lie at least once about what we’ve done during the weekend to make ourselves look more interesting or sociable.
It’s part of people’s nature to tell lies even though we universally agree that it’s wrong and should be avoided. Why do we go through such measures to put up such a perfect facade? What are other things people lie about all the time?