When it's most of your experience.......

Where did this start? 
This practice of people being so flaky? So fake?
Also, when?
It's a twisted web, peeps.

People can be so fake, fake boobs, fake credentials, fake identity, fake marital status, fake photos.
Although it's usually in the pursuit of lucre,  it can also be for pure selfish gratification. Romance scams are so prevalent. Within the US, outside the US. It's a sad fact of our modern existence. 
This aspect has made so many people mistrustful, wary, sometimes even stooping to being shady, themselves, in order to cope with what is all around them.
Fighting fire with fire creates a bigger fire! Most of the time. 
There are a myriad of different reasons, causes, situational life aspects that bring about being untruthful. Some are deliberate, some are obliviousness, some are defensive.

Having been in a long relationship, then, having to leave to escape abuse. The reasonably socially safe bubble I lived in shielded me from the way the world had changed while I was in  it.

I didn't know.

Leaving "the bubble" I was slapped in the arse with the cold reality of what it was like to be single once more.

It whammed me in stages.

Stage 1 ~ I'm alone, OMFG I'M ALONE! Sadness, anxiety, fear, hopelessness, what's to become of me?

Stage 2 ~ Wow! People are so cruel. Enter: Michael. There's hope! We can get married, have a couple kiddos. Happily ever after. I felt safe. I felt enveloped in the love of this wonderful man. Only a few months later, the rug was pulled out from under me when he died.

Back to Stage 1.

Stage 3 ~ Moving on. Out in the dating world of guys that only wanted one thing. 
Clue: The way to a mans' heart is NOT through his stomach. It's through his chest wall! 😁

Stage 4 ~ Still hoping there was someone out there who would love me, let me get to know him enough to love him. Frustration.

Stage 5 ~ From personal experience, 90% of the people out there are liars, cheaters, users of other people. I started out trusting, until I learned that trust can only be earned, it's unsafe to freely give it.
Only believe actions, words are easily spoken, actions tell more.

Stage 6 ~ After several severe heartbreaks, I learned to only depend upon me. To love with my whole heart while using my brain. I watch what people do, only believe when their words are repeatedly backed up with positive, affirming actions that are healthy for both people.

Stage 7 ~ Having learned to be happy, being single, being alone, it's a very sweet existence. When I see other people going through what I went through with the (male & female) liars, cheaters, fakes, users, fun suckers, energy vampires, truly, I TRY to share with them. Some of them have not progressed enough to hear it.
Some of them have experienced excruciating pain while it's less pain than it takes for them to "get it."

I say, affectionately ~ KNUCKLE HEADS!!!!!  😁 

The 7 stages are complete. My lover is fitness! Comfortable in my own skin. Hitting hiccups, occasionally. Losing my mojo. Getting it back! Finding peace, love, happiness, fulfillment in a life of joy.

The one drawback that remains is that so many people are still so fake. Online, offline, in real life. It's difficult to decipher who is real, who is not. It's akin to a tangled ball of yarn. Hard to see where the lies end & the truth is.
A very skilled liar knows to tell lies with small kernels of truth woven in so as to keep the victim guessing, doubting their own judgement. 
The perp will use a persons' trust in him/her against them.

What can we do? 

Be discerning, my dear ones. The more often you trust yourself at detecting lies, the more often you will be able to recognize truth. 

Refrain from getting involved in untruthful practices.
Refrain from getting mixed up in dishonest practices.
Truthful is about facts (marital status, the current date, the color of the sky, the actual parent given name of an individual. FACTS!)
Honesty is about emotions. (Happy, Scared,  Joyful, Disgusted!)

Happiness is an individual state of being. You must first be happy being by yourself before you can be happy with another person.
You must first love yourself to be able to accept the love from others.

**When most of what you have experienced is fake, it's tricky to recognize authenticity**

Be your most authentic self, for yourself. 

Feel the freedom, the peace of mind this gives! 

GO!