Why is it hard for some people to tell the truth?

It's usually, “It didn't happen” or “It didn't happen like that.” We avoid these realizations because we're terrified of how they will make us feel. We do it because we'd rather live with the long-term consequences of lying to ourselves and others than face the temporary pain of the truth. It's tied in with self-esteem,” says University of Massachusetts psychologist Robert Feldman. “We find that as soon as people feel that their self-esteem is threatened, they immediately begin to lie at higher levels.” If the above statement is true, a lot of people live with chronic, threatened self-esteem. We're afraid of what others will think of us if we're completely honest. We don't want to sound stupid, so we pretend to understand things we don't. (One of the hardest truths for me to utter is, “I don't know.”) We don't want to look weak, so we mask our feelings.