Seven lies we tell ourselves

Almost all of us are guilty of lying to ourselves. Why do we do it? Why do we fool ourselves?
Mostly because it is a easy way out. The hard hitting truth is, most of us are lazy. We want the path of least resistance. We want things to happen easily. The second reason we do it is out of fear. Most of us are so afraid of change. We fear the unknown. We fear rejection. We fear failure.

Over the years, I have discovered that many a time I too have been guilty of telling little white lies to myself--but that does not definitely make it okay! I am happier when I face the truth and take action on what I can act upon.

Here are seven white lies we all tell ourselves:


1.If only __________(fill in suitably) came back to my life, I would be happy : After my books became best-sellers, hundreds of people have written to me lamenting over a love lost. Sometimes the person would have walked out. Sometimes they would have dumped somebody. They keep feeling that if things went back to what they used to be, they would be happier.

For me, I faced my biggest personal loss when I lost my father(who meant the world to me) all of a sudden in 2006. There had not been a single day when I would not have spoken to my father on the phone. He was hale, hearty, healthy. And then in a moment he was no more. For nearly two years I was totally stricken by grief, so much that I felt debilitated. I kept thinking that if only dad was around, I would be happy.

Even to this day, I cannot deny that there are days when I miss him a such lot that it almost hurts physically, especially when I achieve so much success and he is not there to share it, but I also now recognize, how my life has changed because  he was no longer around and because I learnt to ACT, and not keep lamenting.



2. I  would do it if only I had the time: Many of us fool ourselves saying 'I really want to do it, but I do not have the time."  That is a big lie. Truth is time is just an excuse. If you want to do it that badly you will always find the time or make the time. If it is that important to you, you will! You can cut out on your TV viewing time ! (personally I do not watch TV at all and I only watch movies and that too after reading up on IMDB) Or perhaps the time you waste gabbing on the phone? (I do not know what works for you, but when I am writing I do not answer the phone and I do not answer the doorbell too) .We can get up an hour earlier (yeah ,it is okay to get just seven hours of sleep--you wont get any dark circles under your eyes!) if we desperately want to do something.


3.It's okay to be a little bit overweight and to have a beer-belly or love handles, especially if you are married/middle aged/older : It is definitely NOT okay! Personally I know many people who are in their forties,fifties and even seventies who are in TERRIFIC shape. I know a seventy year old who could any day give a twenty five year old stiff competition in fitness.I truly want to be like him when(and if)  I reach his age.

Being healthy and fit does work wonders when it comes to self-esteem (especially in the jealousy department!) It is indeed important to work out and adopt a healthy lifestyle.

A friend of mine once told me "But you are married and a mother of two. You can afford to put on weight." I could have murdered that friend. It is AWFUL to let oneself go, just because one is married or has become a parent.


4. I will get around to it someday, just as soon as ____________ (fill in suitably): This is another lie we tell ourselves.I am guilty of this too.Many a time when i do not want to do something, I find that it is easier to just lie to myself saying I will eventually get around to it  'someday'. The 'someday' never comes and suddenly one finds that YEARS have gone by and now it is impossible to do it. Procrastination is indeed the biggest thief of time. If you want to do it, do it today..Do it now! And no it cannot wait! :)

5. If  only ___________had not happened, I would have been better off: This is again a 'wish it could have been' lament. I was guilty of this too. But then I realised that certain events happened and only because they happened did certain other events happen and though it did cause me a lot of pain, it also helped me GROW, as a person. I learnt so much from it about myself, about people,about life. Today I am more accepting and less resentful about those things that happened which caused me so much grief but which I could do nothing about, but bear it.


6.I have to do  _________________ (fill in suitably)else my partner will get mad at me:This is probably a lie we so cleverly believe that we might find it hard to even accept that we are lying. Fact is we do have a choice. We have a choice to make our partner understand. But it involves confrontation and explaining. Most of us like to avoid that. I have broken off friendships (which caused me pain) simply because I felt too much pressure from the other end to conform to their ideal view of how I should be. I did try (a LOT) to explain, to make the other person see it from my perspective. But I did not succeed. I am happier today because I have been true to myself.
Please realise that I am in no way advocating break-ups just because your partner does not see your point of view!! It would be really foolish to be so presumptive. But I do think that certain things, one HAS to stand up for, if it means a lot to you.


7.I am not talented enough: You are! All it takes is constant practice.Some might argue that how can it be when they do not have even one artistic bone in their body.I would say to such people that you have not found the right teacher. Yes, there is a difference between a natural gift and one that is cultivated..But definitely it CAN be cultivated. For example I am not musical at all. (Satish is very musical and he has a ear for music, he sings well too and can pick up tunes on his own and play the keyboard and guitar). But I did learn to play the key-board and since I did not have a natural gift, I had to work doubly hard, but play it I did.
Same goes for drawing portrait, playing a sport--anything really.
You CAN , if you work hard enough!

So what lie are you going to stop telling yourself today?  If you care to share I am listening.
______________________________________________________________________


You can interact with me on my Facebook page.  I reply to almost all comments and I check it very regularly. I do read all the comments left here too  and manage to reply most of the time even if slightly late :)