Truth Be Told... #AtoZChallenge

Truth be told, I can't lie.

I can tell a half-truth; I can stretch the truth; I can't outright lie. 

Is it a gift? Is it a curse?

Even excuses. I realized long ago that giving an untrue excuse to get out of something never worked. People have an answer for anything. 

Last week, at a networking luncheon I saw a friend I haven't seen in a while, but we didn't get a chance to talk. As I was leaving she said to come over later for a "small barbecue"... but I was just leaving a big social event and I can't handle too much socializing in one day. I kind of nodded - already dazed at the concept of going out again - and she said, "message me" and I left, agonizing about whether to go or not. Because I like her, and haven't seen her for weeks, and would love to talk to her, but I was just about maxed out on socializing for the week. 

Twitter suggested "claim diarrhea" to get out of a social engagement. Which wasn't really a social engagement. She was just saying I should stop by later. Totally casual, but I was in a spin.

I can't outright say I had diarrhea. That's a lie! I tell the truth!

So, which truth to tell: "I have moderate social anxiety and as much as I value our friendship, my brain is exhausted from talking to too many people - when I would rather have been talking to you - and I now feel I wasted that luncheon when I should have been catching up with you instead of debating the weather with some other woman"?

Or the truth that "I was utterly exhausted and lost my afternoon and still have things that I need to get done"...Which I did. The meal at lunch was carb-heavy, pub-fare, a lot of fried stuff, and although I did not have diarrhea, I did succumb to a food coma and read/nap in the hammock out front instead of doing my writing and editing.

I told her the second. Truth, and gentler (for both of us) than my confessing to my extroverted friend that as an introvert I can't be "on" all the time. She immediately agreed that lunch was a carb-fest and she, too, had similar issues with her day.

I was right to do so. A couple days later I had to give myself a day off and just stay home doing nothing. My brain, body, and heart were exhausted. This is how it can get for us introverts!

Or is it? Are you introverted? How does it effect you?