4 Reasons Why You Should Talk To Yourself
I remember being younger and thinking that people who talk to themselves are crazy and my teacher assuring me that it isn’t crazy. Albert Einstein talked to himself you know, she said.
Well fast forward 20 years and I now talk to myself — out loud — almost every day. Here’s why:
1. It helps me to organise my thoughts.
Looking back to the days before I had this revelation my thoughts would just go around in circles. I spent a lot of time day dreaming (still do). I would fixate on problems, but never troubleshoot them. My thinking was more like ruminating in actuality.
Now, just like journaling, I find that talking out loud prevents cyclical thinking. It can become quite quick to notice those recurring thoughts. And if you’re talking out loud, you’re not going to say the same thing twice, so it gets you to the point quicker and helps you to structure your thinking.
2. It keeps me honest.
Some thoughts are uncomfortable. You just want to push them away. These things are stressful and can become like a toxin to your mind.
But, just because some thoughts are hard to face, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t face them!
The thing with internal thoughts is these thoughts can arise, get pushed away, and be denied so easily.
However, if you’re walking along and talking to yourself — as I do — I find it much easier to ‘own’ these thoughts and once you say them out loud it’s much harder to deny them.
3. It made me more self aware.
Some people think in pictures. Some people think in words. Apparently.
I used to not be so sure about my own thoughts, but now I’m sure that I think in both, but words mainly.
Now, my inner monologue has become so much stronger. My thoughts are clearer. I think it’s because I’m mimicking talking to myself internally now that I’ve made a habit of it.
I feel like this has given me speed and clarity when solving problems because my inner thread is so much more developed and clear.
4. It is functional.
Much like my journey to becoming a ‘self-talker’, I have also taken up journaling as a habit this year.
Both have had a powerful impact.
So if you journal and find that it is useful for soul searching, self coaching/ reflecting, exploring inner thoughts, ‘dream-lining’ and more, then I’m telling you: Talking to yourself out loud has many of these advantages and can be quite convenient.
The main difference is that you don’t get a record unless you record yourself, but the advantage is that it seems to have quite a big cognitive benefit (for me at least).
If you have read this post, I would love to know what your experience of this is. My hypothesis is that lots of people find talking to themselves helpful. I even imagine (without having looked it up) that there is a bunch of science to back all of this up.
But my claims made here are purely found from experience, so I’m hoping that it’s a compelling idea to someone out there!
*Oh and if you’re embarrassed to try this, you could always put a phone to your ear and just pretend you’re talking on the phone.
