We lie. Every single one of us lies every single day. But the person we lie to the most is ourselves.
In nearly every meeting I have with someone, I say, “Tell yourself the truth.” In most cases, the person knows the truth. If they were sitting across the table from someone with a problem, they would be able to tell the person truthful words. However, whenever we look into the mirror, we often lie. (See: Find the Lie, Name the Truth)
Here are four common lies we tell ourselves.
4 Lies to Never Tell Yourself:
1. Buying a house, car, or object will make me happy for longer than 60 days. A new house, car, or possession can influence your happiness…for a bit. For the first month, the new car smell will intoxicate you, the beauty off the back porch will calm you, having a new possession will entertain you. But as the second month progresses, the euphoria will begin to fade and whatever level of happiness you had before the purchase will return after the purchase.
2. My life is busier than everyone else’s. Some people are more busy than others. Different professions or careers lead to a variety of schedules. Different seasons of life require more from us than others. However, our busyness level is generally not that different. We all have the same amount of time in each day. While some demands are made of us, we control most of our time. We aren’t forced into careers. We get to choose whom to work for and what to do. If we sleep 40 hours a week and work 40 hours a week, we still have another 40 hours which belong to us. You aren’t dramatically busier than others. The more we understand our control over our schedules, the more empowered we will be to spend our time wisely. (See: You Chose This: A Reflection on Time Management)
3. I should be able to handle this on my own. We were created for community. We are always in need of other people. While we should be continually growing and maturing in what we can handle on our own, there will never be a day in which we won’t need others. And needing others is not shameful. We need others to understand us, care for us, hear us, teach us, show us, confront us, be with us, help us, etc. There is no need to apologize for when we need others. Pride says we should be good enough on our own; reality reminds us that no one can do this life alone. Expect yourself to need others and you will be freed from guilt when you realize you can’t make it by yourself. (See: You Don’t Have to do it Alone)
4. I have no choice. This lie holds us back more than another other. We foolishly believe we have no influence over our own story. While we don’t control everything, the truth is there has never been a people with more control over their own lives than us. We always have a choice. If nothing else, we get to choose our attitude so no matter the circumstance we have a deep influence over what we are experiencing. Not everything which happens to us is because of our choices, but many things taking place in our lives are a direct result of the decisions we make. (See: 9 Choices Happy Couples Make)
Tell yourself the truth. Few things can positively impact our lives like identifying the lies we are believing and replacing those lies with truth.
What is a lie you are telling yourself?
