During a recent visit with some friends, we began discussing our dating life. Of the 3, I’m single never married, 1 is divorced with kids, and the 3rd is married with two little ones. Taking turns, us single girls shared crazy stories about our recent dates. I terrified them with a scary situation that happened to me a few weeks ago, and we all laughed hearing about the adventures of the newly single one.
One thing we discussed were the importance of certain numbers. For me, age is a big deal, for her it’s height. I couldn’t help but laugh, because I’ve gone out multiple guys who have lied about both!
I get it, from an early age we adjust as needed. Remember being young and exclaiming your age – I’m 3 and a HALF! Hitting a milestone that you’re mentally not ready for (My 2nd anniversary being 29.) Or when discussing your height with friends who are taller – I’m 4 foot 6 and a HALF! Embellishing, adjusting or accentuating certain numbers makes us feel good about ourselves. Almost like a natural confidence booster.
While small exaggerations are ok, you can let them slide by, larger ones are not. What I don’t get are people who exaggerate so much that in the back of your head there’s a voice going “I call BS! Who do you think you’re fooling?” Example, I’m somewhere around 5’5″, some say I’m 5’4″, others give me 5’6″, truthfully I have no clue anymore. Some of the guys I’ve gone out on dates with claim to be 6′ or taller, but when we meet, we are almost looking eye-to-eye – which is fine! Now granted, I do have a pair of booties that give me about 2-3″, but not the 5 to 7 that is needed to be almost the exact same height.
Another example, I had a guy message me a while ago, his age was listed as being 35. Yet when we met, I called him out on looking older, turns our he’s 47! Or… the ones that say they are in their 30’s but actually are 22! Yes, that really happened, and yes when I realized it I felt like a cougar. Which, I guess isn’t a horrible thing, but wow! Talk about being at two different points in your life! 22 and ready to party, and 33 barely able to keep up! Haha!
So many of us have trust issues, and granted these are small things to embellish. But, I can’t help but think “What else aren’t they being honest about?” For the most part, I’m pretty open, there are things I don’t tell people up front (like where I work, live, or what my last name is) but I’m not feeding them a line of BS either. I don’t tell them I’m a size 2 only to have shock and awe when they see me in person. And, I’m not just saying it’s only guys that do this either, just their the only ones I have experience with, but why lie about such small details?
Be honest! You’ll get so much more out of it, by simply being honest!
-Sarah
