When Lying To Impress Goes Wrong | The Pressure Life Puts On Us To Be What We Are Not

Yesterday, I sat at the campus Café to warm up with a cup of hot chocolate as I went through my E-mails on my laptop at University of Leicester.

The morning had been stormy and pretty cold, an indication that the winter is really going to freeze our hands out here in the United Kingdom.

As I sipped the next round of my hot chocolate, a beautiful black woman approached my table beaming with smile—walking slow, probably struggling to cope with the heavy books she was carrying in her bag pack.

You could see she had been walking in the windy cold weather for some time since her eyes were watery—and her face was very dry.

Just a few yards away from me, she kindly asked if she could sit next to me just by the window. It is a Café and people can surely occupy empty seats around the same table so I quickly answered; sure why not!

After unloading her bag pack, she brought out a book which I know very well from my undergraduate law studies—Law of Tort by Cooke. Before she asked if I could keep an eye on her stuff so she can get a cup of tea, I told myself she must be an undergrad in her first year, studying Law.

On her return and both of us looking straight into the windows where the wind was making its noisy sketch on the park, we talked about how bad the days ahead will be. And how much it will be a pain to wake up in winter to come for morning lectures…

Within few minutes of the ‘weather talks’, the conversation got personal and I got to know this woman as Olivia who lives on campus…

Having earlier spotted her law book, I asked what she was studying and how long she had to go with the course. Shockingly, she mentioned she was a postgraduate student, studying Commercial Law and had just started.

I told her I am also a postgraduate student of Law but majoring in International Human Rights. Then I quickly asked; how come I have never seen you in the ‘Postgraduate Skills’ seminar which is attended by all new postgrads?

With her face looking blue, she boldly said; “I lied…Looking at my age, I mostly find it difficult to tell people I am a new undergraduate student, thinking they will ask if am I not too old to be doing this. I started this before and I abandoned it but I’ve decided to pursue it again”.

This woman will be in her early or mid 40’s …

Until yesterday, I did not give much attention to how much pressure life puts on us to lie about little things, hoping it will safeguard us from probable ridicule…

I am sure we’ve all lied under the pressure of life before—-pretending to be what we are not. To the one lying, it is a necessary enterprise but to the one being lied to, it is pretty silly.

When was the last time you tried pulling in a lie that went wrong?