What to do when only you know you are telling the truth...

[jimrich]

Originally Posted by Glacier Serenade

... but the other person/people simply don't believe you? How do you all cope with this? Do you just keep trying to convince them? This is one of the most frustrating dilemmas anyone faces in social life. The idea that without sufficient proof, another person or people requiring information from you have only their beliefs or trust, or lack of, to go by. It is difficult a position for them as well as they don't want to let a liar get away with it but at the same time do not want to wrongly accuse an honest person...

Ok so this isn't really as much of a problem for me personally, but I'm interested in how others deal with this in either role and perhaps get more ideas

Based on healthy self respect and worth, I can and will speak the truth and stand behind my testimony and others are free to believe me or not. BUT when others, such as members of a forum, become disrespectful or abusive, I will break off the communication and walk away.

Going only slightly off topic here, I do try not to lie as often as I can. There's just... certain things I have to take into account, such as how emotionally stable or not that person is. Certain lies protect people but you just have to hope that they understand your decision and not have a go at you for that. I guess the more you know that person the more accurate the decision to lie or not you make

IMO, there are "healthy" lies and "unhealthy" lies (white lies).
My late wife and I pledged to be 100% honest with each other and we did it most of the time. I fell back into an old pattern of slight dishonesty and I accidentally found a secret "stash" of several hundred $$ in her wallet, which I felt a little disturbed about but could see that she may not trust me so much since I made a few financial mistakes so I never told her that I knew of her "stash", and I took it as an innocent "deception" since we were mostly loving, honest and friendly with each other and would NEVER have lied to each other in "unhealthy" ways.

[OpportuneAbundance]

Originally Posted by The Necromancer

If you have done all you can and your friend still does not believe you, it then becomes an issue of trust.

If they will not believe you, it means they do not trust you and a friendship cannot be maintained or last if no trust is there.

So, I am sorry...but I would be saying "unless you believe me, this friendship is over" and see what they say.

They may tell you to 'shove it' anyway and that is good...saves you the trouble.

However, I have no friends because I refuse to put up with other people's shyte, so I am not the voice of authority on the subject.

I'm going to agree with this point made. Unless you've proven yourself to have a history of being distrusting, this is only on the matter of the partner involved in the dis-ease in their relationship.

More times than not there's something they haven't addressed in their own life. And something they fear (for good reason or not) reappears through the experience with you.

I think the classic "the problem is not the REAL problem" fits here

[rawfoodftw]

Either you are not being honest with yourself or the other person knows you are being honest but is trying to confuse/control/overpower you.