Okay, okay. It’s true that we all tell lies from time to time and that’s fine, I suppose. I mean, we are only human but, in pretty much every situation, lying is the wrong path to choose.

Take it from me, I used to lie up, down, sideways and every direction in between, granted, I mostly lied to avoid getting in trouble or to spare another person’s feelings.

However, more often than not, I ended up doing exactly what I was trying to avoid by lying, hurting someone worse by trying to “protect” them from the truth. It took a few tries but I eventually learned the lesson my parents tried to hammer into my brain, honesty is ALWAYS the best policy.

I can’t stand when people lie to me, about anything, ever. It could be a little white lie, like telling me my dress looks bangin’ when you can see my bra through it, or something huge, like someone saying they want to be with only you and began a relationship with you, just to throw you into a whirl of confusing emotions and events that conflict his words and, end it a week later saying he “just wasn’t ready for something as serious as this.”

It doesn’t matter the magnitude, a lie is lying and, either way, I’ll end up hurt when I find out the truth (which I always find out), especially if I care for the person who has lied to me.

People have different motives for lying, some with good intentions and some not so much, but let’s just take a second to imagine the world if people were a little more truthful. I’m not saying totally honest, I mean what would we tell kids when they ask where babies come from before it’s time for “the talk?” No, oh my gosh that’s like one of my many recurring babysitting nightmares. *shudder*

I mean something more along the lines of being more upfront with feelings and opinions. Less hesitation and contemplation and more of a driving willingness to be real. Imagine what dating would be like, for example, if people were just honest and straightforward about what they want and how they feel. Forming a meaningful relationship would be so much easier without beating around the bush trying not to hurt the other person and the uncertainty that who you’re with feels the same way wouldn’t be a source of the problem.

Please, whatever alternate dimension this exists in, will someone call Rick and Morty for the portal gun? I want to live there.

After learning my lesson the hard way, many more times than I could possibly count, I now pride myself on my honesty. Truthful but not harsh, blunt but empathetic, and upfront but not completely revealing. I am always honest about my feelings, especially with those I care most about, and I don’t feel capable of ever leading someone to believe I felt some type of way about them if I didn’t. I know how much a lie like that feels like a betrayal, which is why I tend to be very emotionally open in any relationship.

People often mistake my honesty, however, with emotions that come too soon or even that my caring is too much to handle. That being said, we all need to toughen up a little. People have emotions, that’s one of the main aspects of our consciousness that separates us from other creatures on this Earth.

Every individual emotion that we feel, how we choose to react and how we choose to move forward, makes us human beings. Without pain, there would be no growth and without joy, there would be no livelihood. If emotions make every single one of us who we are, what’s the point of keeping them quiet or being dishonest?

So, unless you’re a sociopath and lack emotion entirely, it’s time to get in touch with your feely-feels.

The more you understand your own emotions and reactions to the situations life, so graciously and spontaneously, compiles into a playlist, of the best and worst experiences, set on shuffle, the more comfortable you become. Comfortable with yourself, your feelings, emotions, opinions and these feelings of self-esteem lead to an increased willingness to share them, completely devoid of falsity, to the world.

The next time you find yourself faced with the dilemma of to lie or not to lie (that it the question), choose to tell the truth. Don’t overthink it, don’t be rude, mean or offensive. Just be honest and trust me, the more you put the honesty policy into practice, the more instinctual it becomes. Who knows?

You may even find that, amidst the prevalence of bull**** in this world, people greatly appreciate honesty.