Why is telling yourself a lie worse than telling someone else a lie?

Lying to yourself disrespects you and erodes your self-esteem. Over time, and with continual corrosion you feel, and even worse, believe that you are worthless. This is all taking place at a subconscious level and influencing you in such an insidious fashion that you’ll not notice it until it reaches critical mass. Critical mass usually takes years but you’ll hit it at about 50 or so, or after the dust settles following some kind of trauma; divorce, kids leaving for college, a life threatening diagnosis, when you look around and think, “How did this become my life?” Or, “Geez, why didn’t I do XYZ when I had the chance?”

What would your life be like if you traded a bit of that illusory comfort, hiding behind excuses, for the truth behind, ‘Yeah, but...”?

Next time you feel a ‘Yeah but,...” coming on, see if you can uncover the lie that’s hiding under there. I know, you’ll resist it at first, you might even be offended by the suggestion, but humour me. It’ll work like tracking your way through a forest, unfamiliar and disconcerting at first but if you persist you’ll find a clearing.

Only when you get to that clearing, that honest place within yourself, free of all of lies and deceits, will you be able to tell yourself the truth about what’s holding you back from becoming who you were meant to be.