I find it funny how people insist that the truth be told, and that nothing but that makes its way to their ears. People crave the truth, they crave the truth being told to them, but often, what is spoken from their own lips is not as truthful as one would like it to be.

It’s an awful predicament we find ourselves in. We crave the truth, but we have the hardest time saying it. Why is it that we find such trouble in uttering words that are of true feeling? Why is it that we crave something that, not all, but most times we can’t return ourselves?

But most of all, why is it that when we do find that small ounce of courage to speak up and speak what we truly feel, we are the ones who get punished? Why is it that we are the ones who get left behind, left broken and unable to pick up the pieces of what is left? Why is it that the good ones always feel the most pain?

I was never able to understand this. Especially when it came to expressing truth in friendships or relationships. Someone asks you how do you feel? What are you feeling? They are expecting a HONEST and TRUTHFUL answer, are they not? I often lean more towards not, unless they are a special type of person who has a mode of understanding. But I have found that, more often than not, they will want half-truths, or what I like to call the sugar-coated truth. Yes, they do want you to answer those questions, but not in a way that is going to make them feel uncomfortable, or like they have done something to cause your discomfort.

And what happens when you don’t sugar coat things? People flee in the opposite direction. They flee because they don’t want to deal with the complications that will come from you being so honest and truthful with them. They don’t want to deal with the hurt of the truth you speak comes with. They don’t want to put in the effort, they just want to go on thinking and falsely believing that everything is okay!

Broken, Bruised, Left Behind, Let Down. Let those words sink in for a moment. Do they make you feel unsettled, like you’ve done something wrong, or like you have caused harm to someone?

Why is it that these words associate with speaking truth? Why do these words hold so much truth? It’s a double-edged sword, and nobody comes out of it unharmed. Someone, somewhere along the road, gets hurt by the truth, and sometimes, the one that is hurt the most is the one who expressed it in the first place.

What I have learned is it’s okay. It’s okay to feel hurt, but only for a little while because at the end of it all, you did not wrong someone. You only did what was asked of you, and there is nothing wrong with that. The only thing that is wrong is that they couldn’t handle what they had asked of you, and you are not at all at fault for that. People tend to bite off more than they can chew, and sometimes that is okay, and other times, they get scared and turn and run in the opposite direction. That is on them, don’t beat yourself up for it.

I know it sucks, when the truth hurts. But all we can do is put one foot in front of the other and keep on keeping on, because in the grand scheme of things, experiences like this, will only make you a stronger person. For our greatest strengths come out of situations that make us question everything. And if someone is leaving you behind because you were truthful, damn right it will make you question everything, but it will also make you a far greater person because of it.

Keep your head up and keep doing everything you are doing, the truth will repay you somewhere down the road, that I believe.