The power of honesty

My last post garnered me a lot of email comments. All thanking me for my honesty. My word of the year is “honest” Why? I am an honest person already. However, even the most honest of us can fall into the trap of embellishing a story, leaving something out of schedule change request, or simply going by the saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all.”

So now when I have to reschedule, I am very clear on why I need to do it. I want the person to feel that I am trustworthy and believe in open communication. Embellishing a story is for making the fish weigh more, getting a hole-in-one, or meeting a celebrity. My mother is a fly fisherwoman and her catches are not worth noting the weight (Sorry, mom!). As a kid, I watched my dad get a hole-in-one. Only it didn’t count because I wasn’t playing golf too. Rules, Schmules! As for the “meeting a celebrity,” my great-uncle met Dorothy Hamil and said he went up to her and asked for an autograph because she had the same haircut as his niece. This would be me with my DH haircut so popular in the mid to late 70s.

No, but, seriously it is important, to be honest to a point. If you are going o hurt someone’s feelings, insult a person or make them angry then it may be best to plead the 5th or let them know gently how you feel. I have learned with my teenage daughter that I don’t need to be gentle. The other day she texted me a picture of a top she wanted. My reply, “I think it is ugly and I like animal print clothing.” (Sorry, Kiddo!)

The actual vest has an open back which sealed the deal on being ugly.