I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older.

There is a gap between the honesty you believe in and the honesty you can actually manage, and it closes slowly. What you dare to say depends on what you can afford to lose, and that changes as you get older and care less about some things. Candour is less a fixed trait than a limit you can move a little at a time.

Find the one thing you have been shading rather than saying. Say it to the person it concerns, in the plainest version you can stand, and notice what it actually costs. That measurement makes the next one easier.