Why It's important to be Honest

Too many times in life we feel ashamed to speak the complete honest truth in fear.

Fear that others won't understand.

Fear that others will judge.

Fear that speaking the words out loud make them real.

But on the other hand, we are taught that honesty is the key to building and maintaining relationships both professional and personal.

Where does society define the Grey area between honest and too honest?

Is it expected that when people ask how are you, you blurt back okay even if you really aren't?

Is it now, more then ever, frowned down upon in social media to have a whinge or speak the truth about how you're feeling in today's main mode of communication because how dare you affect the happiness of the person scrolling through their news feed reading it?

Is everyone so absorbed in their own lives and battling to keep their head above water that we no longer have the energy for other people's problems?

I guess we have to look at the definition or perceived definition of truthfulness.

I guess we'd agree that truthfulness means being honest. It means being open and not brushing things under the carpet. It means speaking what you truly think and feel, despite how others may react.

So why then if you wrote on Facebook that my husband and I are having a tough time that people would be like Holy Moly, too honest?

Or I'm really struggling with life and it's demands at the moment that people would think, tell someone who cares.

Yes, there's a Grey area.

Yes there's an expectation that you keep super personal and private things, which usually end up being the struggles in your life, between close friends and family and off of social media.

But we all know that everyone struggles with stuff on a day to day basis; that's life.

One persons struggle may differ to another, but that doesn't make their experience any less real or significant in their life.

Are we honest on Facebook?

Are we fooling between to believe we have the perfect life when we only show our triumphs and not our troubles?

Are we setting up unrealistic expectations for others who compare their lives to ours, wondering why theirs seems dull to everyone else's?

I beg people to read people the lines and with caution; honesty is in the eyes of the beholder.

You hold cards closely to your chest on life and so do others.

Maybe we need to redefine honesty in today's social media age; there's two sets of rules; honesty for social media and honesty for private conversations between friends and family.

Once we are truly honest with others, we begin to realize that everyone has their struggles and you're never alone.

I will always appreciate my blog space for allowing me to speak honestly about my experiences with mental health.

There a things I disclose in here that I would never make a Facebook status about...I guess it comes back to audience and appropriateness for people scrolling through their news feeds and not wanting to be the sad sack.

But hey, my blog has taught me that I'm not alone and I'll never be alone with my struggles with mental health for my honesty has allowed me to connect with others in similar positions.

Being truly honest gives us the freedom to connect with others.

It gives us the opportunity to share stories and experiences that you otherwise would've fought alone.

It shows that we re only human not super happy loving life beings all of the time... and that's okay.

Hnesty is so important and yet I think it's  diminishing in society because there's an expectation that we re handling life's demands all of the time.

We're human. We crash. We make mistakes. We get stressed. We get angry. We fight. But we love, we care and we want to share stories in hope of connecting with someone else to not feel so isolated.

What do you think about honesty? Are there now 2 definitions?

Look after yourself and those around you,

Kirsty xxx