Compulsive honesty

[Auron]

Do any of you struggle with compulsive honesty?

As in, you struggle to lie to people in any way including harmless lies that don’t matter.

“How are you doing?”

“Oh, I don’t know, a bit mixed?”

Like, obviously the ‘how are you’ is a greeting, and you just say “I’m fine.” But I feel strange answering “I’m fine”, If I’m not fine, or I am a bit mixed.


I don’t know if there’s a direct link, but I’ve always struggled to lie to people, even if the lie is trivial, or even like, maintaining a joke or a prank. I can’t keep up any kind of prank that involves keeping a lie going for more then about five seconds.

[Tom fod]

I think with the "How are you doing?" question we're dependent on our perception of what we believe the other person wants to hear and their level of interest in asking the question and processing the answer we then respond with, and their responding kindly and patiently.

If we respond that things are pretty £%#t right now, people don't like ro feel powerless and some may respond with impatience to others' tales of woe as they don't want the woe to be their woe too. It can be a case of us trying to process what kind of answer do they want?

The standard answer of Not bad?

[Kyiopriii]

Do any of you struggle with compulsive honesty?

As in, you struggle to lie to people in any way including harmless lies that don’t matter.

“How are you doing?”

“Oh, I don’t know, a bit mixed?”

Like, obviously the ‘how are you’ is a greeting, and you just say “I’m fine.” But I feel strange answering “I’m fine”, If I’m not fine, or I am a bit mixed.


I don’t know if there’s a direct link, but I’ve always struggled to lie to people, even if the lie is trivial, or even like, maintaining a joke or a prank. I can’t keep up any kind of prank that involves keeping a lie going for more then about five seconds.

I think it's completely normal. You don't have to feel bad because you are honest, on top, you should feel proud that you aren't fake.

[RufusWilddog]

Do any of you struggle with compulsive honesty?

As in, you struggle to lie to people in any way including harmless lies that don’t matter.

“How are you doing?”

“Oh, I don’t know, a bit mixed?”

Like, obviously the ‘how are you’ is a greeting, and you just say “I’m fine.” But I feel strange answering “I’m fine”, If I’m not fine, or I am a bit mixed.


I don’t know if there’s a direct link, but I’ve always struggled to lie to people, even if the lie is trivial, or even like, maintaining a joke or a prank. I can’t keep up any kind of prank that involves keeping a lie going for more then about five seconds.

Read Lie detecting 101 by Dr David Craig. He discusses the importance of the white lie and the dark lie, and also teaches you how to detect liars along the way! By understanding the nature of lies and Honesty (something which i have been researching myself these last few months) you may be able to put into place more mindful habits to sate societies need for the absence of truth in certain situations. The very quote you have used is exceptionally similar to one he uses in his book, followed by a deep explenation of how to understand it, and handle it! I highly reccomend the read if this is a quandry you are itching to quell.

[Fanyann]

Yeah, I totally get that. I'm the same way—if someone asks me how I am and I'm not great, it feels weird to just say "I'm fine." I feel like I'm being dishonest, even if it's something small. Same with pranks, I just can’t keep them going because it feels wrong to lie, even for fun. I think it's just about being wired to be upfront, but it can definitely feel awkward when most people just expect surface-level responses.