Lies build up and tangle you up and create a big, sticky web. But it will keep getting worse until you stop weaving that web. The truth will cut through it and free you. It might be uncomfortable at first, but you will make it, and the freedom of not having to cover for yourself or dread what might happen when so-and-so finds out that what you told them (or didn't tell them) was a deception will be more than worth it. It will feel so much better.

Do you catch yourself lying to yourself too? This boyfriend sounds like he isn't the right one for you because he doesn't want what you want out of life and the relationship. Right? How are you deceiving yourself to keep staying with him so long? Do you convince yourself that marriage and kids aren't really that important to you? Or that he will change his mind?

I wonder if getting the dog is a way of pushing the issues out into daylight so that you will have to deal with them and start living life the way that you really want to. What do you think?