My dad is a compulsive liar and I’ve been playing along for years.

My dad is a compulsive liar and has been for years. I’ve been going along with it, humouring him, but it’s eating away at me. I don’t know how to tell him it’s not okay.<br><br>(this is a strange one)<br><br>My dad is 75 and lives alone. He loves to talk about his life happenings daily. Sometimes his stories make sense, and sometimes they do not. He has been a compulsive liar for years and we’ve learned to adapt and not argue with him. But not only does he lie, he tells the truth in the most exaggerated, outrageous way. For example, he once said that when he was in the navy, his ship crashed in the middle of the ocean and he had to swim 500 miles to get to shore and then walked another 20 miles through the desert to get to the nearest town. All of this, in his dress whites, and with all of his belongings.<br><br>I roll my eyes, but I don’t want to argue with him. He’s old, so I want to make him feel happy. I’ve always thought that he’s like this because of his age. Sometimes, his stories seem to suggest that he’s losing his grip on reality. Like when he told me that this past winter, he swam in the ocean because the weather was so warm. (It was 40 degrees and snowing) or that his 90 year old neighbour is regularly coming over and doing back flips in his living room.<br><br>I don’t want to embarrass him or tell him that he’s lying, but this is eating away at me. He lies so much, it’s like watching a cartoon. I want to tell him to stop, but I don’t know how. I just want to tell him that it’s ok to be old and let go of his need for this grandeur. He lives in his own world and I feel bad that I’m humouring him so much and not telling him to be honest.<br><br>I want to tell him that it’s okay to be a regular person, that he doesn’t have to exaggerate and embellish his accomplishments. I want to help him break free from this cycle of lying.