Being honest is not the most recommended(by other friends) thing to do, especially when we are teenagers. So that is why I decided to write an entire article about the benefits of being honest.
We all know that some people consider being honest a weakness, check this article for more details on that. When you add that in high school or college, we are encouraged by our friends to exaggerate things in order to impress other friends, teachers, or a person we might like, honesty doesn’t seem like a good option.
It’s hard to be the most impressive one by being honest in a group where someone lies and exaggerates their stories to get the group’s attention.
A small observation here is that being honest doesn’t mean that you should always say everything you think without being asked, that is more about oversharing than being honest.
So in those circumstances, what are the benefits of being honest?
8 Benefits of being honest
There are more benefits to being honest, but before getting to the benefits, I want to let you know that both being honest and lying will become a habit if you are doing them regularly. So if you are lying, it’s easy to lie more and more, even in unnecessary situations, and with people, you wouldn’t lie otherwise. Let’s get back to our benefits.
1. Peace of mind
Being honest will give you peace of mind knowing that you don’t have anything to hide. When you often lie to your friends, family, and acquaintances, you always have to be careful not to be discovered since it will make you feel bad.
This puts constant pressure on you, which leads to higher stress levels, and less happiness over time. So, yes, you might impress someone in the first place, but in the long term, it is hard to keep those appearances if they have been built on lies.
Knowing that you can say something and forget about it because you said the truth is great since you will not end up in weird situations where you might say a different thing to a different person, and they might end up discussing that.
Read Also: Being Too Open-Minded
2. Real and better relationships
When you are honest, you will have better relationships with friends, family, and those you love.
I had a friend that always lied when he met a girl, he is not the only one, but he is the most obvious example in my head.
He looked great and when you add lying and exaggerating things is no wonder that he was capable of having a relationship. However all his relationships had the same trajectory, the girl was very impressed in the beginning, then started to realize in a few months that he was lying a lot and it was not as alpha male as he said, and then started to take advantage of him or break up with him. Someone who spends more time with you will easily find out that you are lying to other people and to them as well, so it will not help you at all if you want a real and healthy relationship. With friends as well, this guy had some circumstantial friends that were very impressed in the beginning, then they started kind of bullying him even if he was pretty big and quite a strong guy, but he exaggerated a lot with them.
He would have been able to have a relationship and nice friends if he had been honest with them, but he chose the easy and fast way to impress all the people around him and ended up without many friends or relationships. I was his best friend at the time, and he always told me when he lied to other people, but in time he started to lie to me as well. That is why I say lying becomes a habit, and you will lie in unnecessary situations.
So yes, being honest has some benefits that are not so obvious in the beginning.
3. High self-esteem
Being honest shows other people that you have high self-esteem, it might not be so obvious to them in the beginning, but the fact that you have the courage, to be honest, will impress them in a good way.
Especially those that are not honest, most of them know that they have low-self esteem and they would not be so impressive if they were honest, so seeing you have the power, to be honest, might intimidate them and make them think that you have higher self-esteem, which is true.
4. Self-acceptance
This one is related to the one before, the fact that you accept yourself will make you more confident and have higher self-esteem. If you know that your life and stories are good enough, that is a great thing.
You should be aware that you and your life don’t have to impress everyone no matter the circumstances, but there are moments where you will shine as you are without exaggerating or lying.
Self-acceptance is a great thing that will lead to good decisions in life, which will make you happy for real, not only in other people’s eyes. Also, it gives you peace of mind because you don’t always concern about how good you are or if other people like you.
5. You encourage honesty
By being honest, more people around you will tend to be honest. That being said, you should have realistic expectations and understand that not all the people around you will be honest because you are, but a bigger percentage will be.
This is like opening up to family, friends, and so on, if you are doing it, they will have an easier time doing it.
6. A sign of maturity and responsibility
Being honest will show people around you that you are mature enough and responsible for what you do, leading to higher trust and respect from others.
Those are the things anyone should pursue in life, not to be impressive and the best in every situation.
Being responsible for what you do might end up being better even if you make mistakes, everybody likes someone who is able to recognize that they were wrong compared to someone that keeps lying even when you know the truth.
7. Avoid awkward situations
We all know those situations where you say a thing to a person and a different thing to someone else, and somehow they end up finding out that they know different stories. It is not fun at all, but by being honest, you avoid those situations, so you will not have to feel ashamed.
8. It’s easier
This one is related to the first one, when you are honest, you don’t have to fill your head with what you said and to whom. You can say it and forget, because next time you will say the same thing because it was the truth. Also, lying involves thinking at the moment, and coming up with imaginative scenarios, which can be quite hard, and you might end up getting caught with your guard down from time to time.
So it is way easier, to be honest.
Read Also: How Long Do You Hang Out With Friends?
Bottom line
Even if, in the short term lying and exaggerating might give you some respect and attention from other people, in the long run, you will end up without them and more.
So being honest has a lot of benefits when we talk about real relationships with people around us, from acquaintances to family and spouses.
