"Be honest. I can handle it," is something we hear from various people throughout our everyday lives.

Start with this example: You are out shopping with a friend and she tries on a dress to show you. She comes out of the fitting room and asks if you like it. You, in your head, are thinking, Wow, that looks awful. How do I tell her? She is standing in front of the mirror twirling around, saying to you, "I really really like it. I think it looks great! What do you think? Be honest." You are now having a dilemma in your head. Do I just say I like it to make my life easier, or do I go down the brutally honest route?

So you respond, "Don't get me wrong, it's cute, but there are a bunch of other dresses out there they may be cuter and ... " STOP. You've been cut off by her fiery glare and kicked out of the vicinity of her dressing room as she slams the door or pulls the curtain shut. You continue the rest of your shopping trip in silence, as she furiously texts away on her phone probably complaining to someone else about how much of a b**** you were. You spend the next few hours in utter confusion, because SHE is the one who asked you to be honest in the first place.

If you are a guy and are reading this, you might not understand it, so let me put it in your perspective. Your best friend is dating a new girl who you have seen pictures of but haven't met. He hasn't stopped talking about how amazing and hot she is, and how happy he is, and you are thinking to yourself, Well, yeah, I can tell by the million and one Snapchat stories that she's made and posted of you two cuddling and how many times you have been tagged in her Instagram posts with #bae. It is a Saturday night, you and your best friend are going to a pre-game, and he tells you he is bringing the new #bae along. He also tells you that he wants you to be honest about what you think of her. You meet her and introduce yourself. She calls you by some other name that is not yours, is latched onto your friend and then continues to grow progressively more annoying throughout the course of the night.

Throughout all of this, your best friend is turning to you and saying, "Isn't she awesome?" To which, you find yourself in a similar dilemma to the shopping expedition, Do I tell my best friend his girlfriend is annoying AF, and I can't stand being around her? Or do I tell him that she is great and leave it at that?" So you, being brutally honest, turn to him and say, "She's okay, if you're happy then ... " STOP. Now you have been cut off by him giving you a nasty look, throwing his drink down and walking away. But again, HE is the one who asked you to be honest in the first place.

It becomes extremely easy to blame ourselves in these kinds of situations. The problem with being brutally honest is that people who ask you to be brutally honest cannot handle the truth when it is not the reaction that they wanted. If you were being brutally honest and gave them the reaction they had hoped for, there would be no issue. Being honest, brutally or not, is not just a one-way street. Not only do you have to be honest in your response to whatever they are asking, THEY must be willing and understanding to accept the truth no matter the outcome, because they originally asked for the honesty.

"Be honest, I can handle it," is something that gets thrown around much too lightly. The next time you say that to someone, think about it a little bit more. Can you actually handle it without becoming a complete and utter monster about the situation when their reaction does not go the way that you had planned? Being brutally honest is truthfully never the reactor's fault, but we (and yes we, because I am completely and utterly brutally honest) tend to take the fall for these situations and find ourselves trying to tie back loose ends because of our honest reactions. But do not forget, our honest reactions were instigated by our friends who now sit angry with us.

So, if you cannot handle the honest truth, do not ask for it. People who are brutally honest are always the ones who people are mad at, because they might have given you the truth that everyone else was afraid to give you. Truthfully, all of these people who once got mad at you for telling them that their shirt looked ugly or that their girlfriends were psychotic will one day look back and see a picture of themselves in that shirt or remember that relationship, and they will call you. They will ask, "Why did you ever let me wear that?" or "Why did you ever let me go out with her?" to which you will laugh and reply, "I tried."

Keep being honest. The world is a sensitive place and could use some toughening up. People can (try) to handle it.