Don't Lie To Yourself
We have all grown comfortable lying to ourselves. We hide behind familiar excuses—the ones we offer when we fail to achieve something. We hold beliefs that allow us to interpret the world in ways that feel safe to us. These lies originate in what we believe about ourselves and the world we inhabit.
At the core, all forms of lying emerge from the beliefs we hold—primarily about ourselves. Our first loyalty is always to ourselves, and only then to the world. What we think about ourselves is reflected in how we engage with the world. A person with low self-esteem may avoid social encounters altogether to escape rejection. His belief about himself supplies excuses that help him withdraw. He lies himself into believing that the world is an unsafe place.
Begin working on your beliefs one at a time. Understand that taking action—regardless of the outcome or the quality of execution—is always better than taking no action at all. Within the confines of your comfort zone, everything will appear dangerous. The more attached you become to that zone, the more lying you will have to do to make sense of a changing world. By that logic, people suffering from depression are among the biggest liars—not out of malice, but because they have convinced themselves they are not good enough. The aim of therapy is precisely to repair this self-image so they can move forward from trauma.
Each time you impose a belief about the world, ask yourself whether you are lying to avoid engaging with it, or whether there is some element of truth. How do you know that what feels true actually is? Introspection is necessary to expose your inner insecurities. Unless you become aware of these beliefs, you cannot identify the ones that have defined how you see yourself—and quietly limited you.
Believing in yourself cultivates a deep faith that enables great achievement. Distort those beliefs, and you may not even step outside your home. You begin lying to yourself about everything in order to preserve the image you hold of yourself. Do yourself a favour and start confronting the truth. The sooner you stop lying to yourself, the easier it becomes to move forward in life.