I Spoke Without Thinking in That Meeting...

So last week at work was just one of those weeks. You know the kind, I’m talking about the Monday-to-Friday drag where it feels like everything is a blur, and you are just going through the motions... The thing with me is that I tend to internalize my stress instead of dealing with it head-on. So by Friday afternoon, I was running on fumes and had this overwhelming urge to scream at everyone... But, no screaming allowed in a professional setting, right? That’s where white lies come into play... Anyway, there we were having our weekly update meeting... Everything seemed normal at first. People rattled off their status updates like they always do, boring but routine stuff... And then it was my turn to speak. I’d been dreading this moment all week because my project is behind schedule by a couple of days... Knowing the boss would be in there, I wasn’t sure how to break it to him... So instead of just owning up and saying “I’m a little delayed but will catch up soon,” something silly came out of my mouth... It was like my brain decided to go on vacation while everyone else was still listening. I said the project was actually ahead of schedule, that all the numbers were lining up perfectly and everything was smooth sailing... There was an awkward pause afterward as everyone blinked at me in confusion. You could see the questions forming in their eyes... But then my colleague Alice piped up, saying she noticed a slight delay on her end too... The boss raised an eyebrow but let it go after a couple of follow-up questions. That’s how I got out of telling him about the true status of the project for one more day. Yeah, it was a small victory in my mind that day... But now looking back at it, there’s this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach... What if someone asks me about progress next week? I could lie again but feels like such a slippery slope. Maybe I should just be honest and own up to my mistake before things get worse... The guilt is gnawing away at me little by little...