By Charlene M. Brown
Did college teach you to lie? To get through by the skin of your teeth? To scramble to make the deadline? To sweet-talk some professor into extending the deadline just for you?
College taught me these and a few other bad habits.
So what happens when we step into the so-called Real World with our arms full of these acquired bad habits? What road do we take then? The one filled with extended deadlines and surviving by the skin of our teeth? Or do we take the Road of Truth!?
I suggest the Road of Truth.
While it is most important to be Truthful to yourself, it might be easiest to try it on complete strangers first. Try this mini-experiment: the next time somebody asks you how you are doing, instead of giving them a standard, automated response like “fine” or “good” or “okay”, give them the honest-to-goodness way that you feel right then—“I’m Great!” or “I’ve had a crappy day, so I’m a little grumpy right now, but thank you for asking.”
What happens? If you are grumpy, you may get left alone (which may be what you wanted in the first place). On the opposite side, if you are doing “Great!”, you may just make someone else’s day—you never know how infectious positivity is until you’ve tried it. So . . . ., TRY IT!
Ladies! Be Honest. With Your Self, Your Loved Ones, complete strangers. Do yourself a favor and unlearn those acquired habits from your college years and learn or relearn better ones.
Are you wary of talking to your so-called “friends” because everything is so sugarcoated you never know what’s true and what’s not!?
Perhaps this “friend” is you.
Perhaps you are the one who is not being completely Truthful.
Have you ever wondered how you got “here” because one “little white lie” led to another and another, and soon your one “little white lie” had spiraled so out of control even you didn’t know what was true and what wasn’t anymore!
Wouldn’t it just be easier to TELL THE TRUTH!!??
Hmmmmm . . . .
Look at it this way. If you told the Truth in the first place, you wouldn’t have the strain of remembering the lie or who you told it to and who you didn’t. Your Truth would be the same for everyone—“That’s my story and I’m sticking to it” style. Give people the same Truth every time and there is no more ridiculous remembering.
The larger point is that the Road of Truth frees us up from so much other drama! You will also find that when you are honest to begin with, you get more of you want, because you have spoken up for it all along. As women, we are often taught to be silenced, to “play nice” or be a “good girl” (“Good girls don’t do that . . . .”)
Being completely honest, where has that really gotten you? Heartache and Grief? Unsure of who your “real” friends are? Unsure of who YOU really are?
Who wants to be there?
Not me!
And I’m betting not you either.
Here’s a little secret . . . (Did you lean in closer to your computer screen? . . . Well, do it, so I can tell you the secret . . .) . . . . People will like you 
for exactly Who You Are.
That’s right, you can be magnificent YOU, all the time, and people will like you and want to be your friend. Shocking, isn’t it?
And here’s another little secret (are you still leaning in?) : those people who “no longer” “like” you were probably not true friends in the first place; those who can’t accept you as You probably don’t need to be in your circle anyway.
The Truth will always set you free, as the saying goes; and sometimes from things that you didn’t even know were binding you. Remember that. Start walking down The Road of Truth Right Now!
Also, telling the Truth will loosen some of those grueling knots in your belly. Just thought I’d let you know.
Do You Love Your (Honest) Life Now!? I Do!!
Related posts:
- Who Are You Being Intimate With?: The Truth About Intimacy
- Making Friends and Fitting In: The Elusive Struggles of the Ugly Duckling!
- So Many Bumpy Roads, So Little Time!
- Everything I Was Supposed To Learn In College I Already Learned In Kindergarten
- Facing Yourself!
Want this article for your own website or ezine? Feel free to use it as long as you include this box.
© 2009 You Can Love Your Life Now!
Tags: charlene brown, charlene brown articles, charli brown, charli brown articles, College Taught You What!?, little white lie, road of truth, sugarcoat, sugarcoating, to tell the truth, you can love your life now
June 21st, 2009 at 4:33 am
Super post, Need to mark it on Digg
GlenStef
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Thanks for the feedback!
~Charli