Have you ever walked away from a conversation asking yourself, "Who was that person?"

I'm not asking if you forgot the name of the person with whom you conversed. I want to know if you have asked that question about yourself. Have you wondered why you said the things you did, or what caused you to lie about pointless things, simply to attempt to impress the other person (or maybe yourself)?

We all want to portray a better image of ourselves than what we know is true inside. We attempt to show others an idealized perspective of ourselves rather than embracing our fallacies. With enough time, we too begin to believe false truths about ourselves. They become our reality, even though none of the facts back them up.

We want to portray ourselves in the best light possible. Often we take this to the extreme by blatantly lying about our life or achievements, but of course we won't call it lies. We call it "stretching the truth" or "based on real life events". We use cute phrases like this to justify it in our minds. The actions speak for themselves. We are attempting to paint a better picture of ourselves so others will perceive us as smarter, richer, etc.

Getting back to the point, when we falsify who we are to others, we also lie to ourselves. We believe we have done the things we talk about, regardless of if they actually happened. We portray ourselves as more successful and an overall more interesting person.

Why?

What insecurities lie within us to force our actions to inaccurately represent who we are?

We all know what happens next. We continue to lie to ourselves and to the other person. But my question remains, why? What are the purpose of our actions?

There is another option. We can tell the truth. We can be honest with ourselves and honest with others. Give it a try. If you don't like it, you can always go back to your old habits.

QUESTION:

What are you trying to hide from others? What do you intentionally falsify so that others do not see the real you? What truth about yourself do you perceive in an alternate reality?