Honesty

For a week, the phrase “to thyself be true” kept coming to mind. It was as if someone was constantly saying those words into my ears. After a few days, I decided to have a roundtable discussion with me, myself, and I. I discovered that although I have always been an advocate of honesty in all my dealings, I have not been totally honest with myself. I used to be and still is, the go-to person for the truth in any situation in my house. I always believe in saying the story as it actually happened, without adding salt, pepper, and maggi to make the story ‘sweet’…lol. Even till now, I detest lies. I find it really difficult to believe a story if I know the person telling it has lied to me once. It is different if it is a joke that is being told. But in serious matters, I find lies unnecessary. Oftentimes, people tell me that the reason they tell a lie is because they are either protecting the emotions of the person they are lying to or because the person cannot handle the truth. My thoughts on this? I think it is wrong because the person might really be hurt about being lied to when the truth finally comes to light.

The actual phrase “to thine own self be true” was said by Polonius in Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. One of the meanings of the phrase depicts honesty. Despite how I have always felt and still feel that honesty is one of my strongest points and it is also my most treasured virtue, it suddenly dawned on me that I have not been totally honest with myself (thanks to the roundtable discussion I had with me, myself, and I). I spent months trying to believe in a lie I often tell myself. I lived in denial instead of addressing personal issues and moving on with my life.

Thankfully, the voice that constantly told me to be true to myself was indeed a wake-up call and I am very glad I did not ignore the voice. Since I talked to myself, discarded the lies I believed about myself, and accepted some things I was denying for a while, I discovered that I have been feeling lighter…like, I have finally dropped a heavy load I have been carrying on my shoulder for a long time. So, yeah! Life now feels a lot easier. I think you should do this too if you feel the need to. Always be true to yourself!