Little White Lies

When I was running the other day I was thinking about {wow, some actual fluffy girl running thoughts this time!} how often people (including myself) lie. I'm not talking about the big whoppers, just the little white ones. I think most of the time we tell little white lies in order to avoid conflict or spare someone's feelings. I do it all the time (mostly to avoid conflict at work), and the more I thought about it the more it bothered me.

I used to be a very outspoken person and had no problem telling people what I thought or felt. Some might say that I matured and "grew my filter" as someone once put it, but I'm not completely sold on that philosophy. I think my filter is screwed on a little too tight these days.

Sometimes you just need to tell the truth instead of pussy-footing around to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy inside.

For example, look at the way society has changed in terms of raising/teaching children. "Everyone's a winner, everybody did a great job, life is wonderful" yada yada yada.  I personally do not agree with this mindset. Our children need to know when they have done something wrong and how to own up to their mistakes. We need to push our children to do better, try harder, and be competitive. Children need to know that life isn't always easy, and we should teach them how to cope with that reality. Society today is grooming our children to be weak, lazy, and feel a sense of entitlement that they don't deserve. It drives me crazy when I see people praise children for things that should be a standard in the first place. And don't even get me started on playing organized sports "for fun". I just can't.

Before I started this blog, I read lots of articles about the do's and don'ts of the blogging world. I was a little surprised at how often it was mentioned that you should always be positive in your blog posts. Isn't that a little unrealistic (and fake)? Life has its constant ups and downs, and I think we should share our real feelings and experiences so we can learn from eachother.  I don't plan to follow this "rule" of blogging, because guess what--I'm going to have bad days just like everyone else, and if I feel like venting then I'm going to do it. Sorry readers, but I'm not going to be fake and lie to you by pretending that I'm perfect.  

Moving on to a different point....lying in the workplace to avoid conflict. I am completely guilty of this because I do it every single day. I currently work for a man who admittedly goes out of his way to be a complete jerk every chance he gets. A majority of the time I just try to ignore whatever ignorant thing he just said to me and then evacuate the room as soon as possible. There are a couple issues that I call him out on, but for the most part I never say what I'm actually thinking even if he asks for my opinion. This is where my reluctance to tell the truth really bothers me. If I had met him ten years ago, I wouldn't have kept my mouth shut. I think I need to bring some of that unfiltered truth back into my life and stop being so passive. I'm not sure how, why or when exactly this change happened, but it's time to put an end to it.

Having said all that, I don't want anyone to think that I'm promoting hate, bullying, shaming, ignorance, pessimism, acting like a crazy beotch, or any other such nonsense. I generally am a positive person, but I'm also realistic and know that life just isn't all rosy and smiley. Sometimes people need to hear the truth, and the truth might hurt--but the delivery of such information is what is key. If you practice some tact and grace, even a hurtful truth can be expressed in a way that won't damage someone's self worth.