Telling trivial lies

• White Lies. People tell white lies claiming to be tactful or polite.
• Broken Promises. Failure to keep one’s spoken commitment or promise.
• The Lie of Fabrication. Telling others something you don’t know for sure is true.
• The Bold-Faced Lie. ...

When we decide to lie, we privilege some other value over honesty. The value is often compassion, as people lie more about their feelings than about anything else. 

Those who tell prosocial lies are often viewed as more trustworthy and more moral than are people who tell harsh truths...

If you’re making an effort to be more social, there are going to be awkward moments.

If you only focus on avoiding awkwardness, then you’ll quickly give up on trying to socialize at all. And this is the opposite of what you want. So instead, I suggest you embrace the awkwardness