Dear Blake,
I’m at a loss about how to deal with my sister, “Julie.” We had an incredibly hard childhood. We lost our mother when she was only 48. My issue with Julie is her constant and blatant storytelling. She has two young children and is recently divorced. While I feel terrible about her situation and have gladly been there to help her, her lies drive me up the wall.
The things she makes up are so bizarre, they make me cringe. She’s obvious about it, and it screams red flags. I’m a proud aunt to my niece and nephew, and I do not want them to pick up this habit from her. I know Julie wouldn’t be willing to admit she has a problem, because she becomes extremely defensive when faced with anything she needs to work on. What can I do?
Signed, Esther
From Corpus Christi, Texas
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I can understand your frustration with your sister’s blatant fabrications. I believe that the only way to stop her, is for you to tell even bigger lies so outrageous, that she’ll demand honesty from you… as well as from herself. Here are some ideas. Let her find out that you are telling her friends that your she is from another planet, where distorting facts daily is both normal and encouraged. Or, tell her that “your” parents told you in private, that your she is not biologically related to you, but there was a mix-up at the hospital, and her real parents refused to make the swap. Or this idea. Tell your sister that you have a friend that invented a time machine, and he has compelling evidence that within one year, she’ll be wanted by the police in five countries including this one; encourage her to leave town immediately, and relocate on a deserted island in the South Pacific. Lastly, this suggestion. Tell her Congress passed a law, that states anyone who gets caught telling a lie, will have one of their organs harvested within 8 hours. And add that even though most of the politicians in Congress won’t have any organs left within a week, she won’t have any left by midnight. I hope this helps.
Blake