Elaborate lying and embellishing to save yourself and others trouble. Common?

While i have pretty run of the mill social anxiety, fear of crowds, fear of parties, fear of groups, panic response to expectations of me etc etc, I also have this peculiar thing where I would rather lie or obscure the truth of what i've been doing (say, not sleeping but still going to work anyway, or telling friends and family i'm fine with money when i've got $50 to my name) than have to admit to them, and consequently myself, that theres a problem to be dealt with. Is this some kind of complex? It's not pathological, as I'm not really trying to mess with people for the fun of it but I know at the core it's some primitive damage control response to avoid having to think about a problem.

Does anybody else get this? Is this that common? If you've done this in your own life, what were the circumstances. Right now I just feel like a freak, and trying to discuss it openly with a family member over dinner this evening has kind of lead to a huge argument. Don't know where to go other than cutting them off. Like i've revealed this big secret. I dunno.

What do you think?