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Is it normal to talk to yourself? - Yes, of course it is!
Who says it takes two to talk?
Language is an intellectual process that we learn from a very early age. If at first sight, talking to yourself appears to be a sign of madness, it’s not. A person who talks out loud in private or in public and who comments on what they see or do is not in any way losing their mind. Quite the opposite, they’re just giving a tangible form to their thoughts. When you think about it, you realize that these monologues have many benefits. Sometimes we sing in the car or the shower, even though there’s no audience to cheer us on, so why not talk to ourselves? Why is it so shocking?
Talking to yourself is a sign of intelligence
When choosing an outfit for the day, following a recipe or reading the instructions to build a piece of furniture, we’ve all talked to ourselves consciously or not. Those who claim otherwise are lying! They associate talking to yourself with psychiatric disorders, when it’s actually something perfectly natural. Commenting on your life isn’t a sign of madness. On the contrary, it’s a way of becoming aware of your existence, asserting yourself and accompanying yourself.
🧠 If this happens to you often, you may even be a genius… According to a study published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology in 2015, two psychologists proved that people who regularly talk to themselves out loud have a superior level of intelligence. Whether we’re making comments to ourselves or recounting our chain of thought, by talking to ourselves, we’re actually thinking faster than average. Albert Einstein certainly won’t contradict us! If we are to believe in various documents about his life, this brilliant man is said to have chatted to himself for a long time, and look where that got him…
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Why do we talk to ourselves?
We’re organizing our thoughts
Now we’ve reassured you about your mental health, you’re going to discover the positive effects of these monologues. The list is longer than you thought! Since you were a child, you talked to yourself, and that didn’t shock anyone at the time. Indeed, as a child, this is how you used to work on your memory by learning your lessons or even poems. It’s an exercise that can always be useful when you have to speak in public! Talking to yourself has also enabled you to focus on the task at hand. For example, imagine a surgeon who wants to ensure an operation goes well. He’ll say aloud, “I’ll cut open, then irrigate, before sewing up the tendon”. But you don’t have to be a surgeon to justify talking to yourself! Often at work or in everyday life, we need to organize ourselves to do everything we had planned for the day.
We’re making the right decision
These discussions between you and yourself can also be useful when your head is in disarray, and you’re faced with a dilemma. By taking stock out loud, you will actually step back from your thoughts and see what is really important or absurd. No more making the wrong decisions that lead to disastrous consequences! It’s also in the most difficult moments that talking to yourself will really help you to motivate yourself. To get through an effort or a very full to-do list, we often encourage ourselves to stop us from giving up.
We’re boosting our self-confidence
Addressing yourself with kindness can also be a good exercise to regain self-confidence and reassure yourself. If you’ve seen the movie “Little Miss Sunshine” or even “The Help”, you’ll surely remember the parts where one of the characters is in front of a mirror. They repeat out loud that they will succeed, or that they are intelligent and important. Finally, you can also talk out loud to refocus on yourself to regain your composure. In moments of irritation, this is even more effective than if the remark came from someone else!
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How can we stop talking out loud when we're alone?
If even after all these explanations you still can’t stand your voice and remarks, here are some tips so that it happens less often:
- As you can see, we only talk to ourselves when we need to put our thoughts in order and be organized. So to achieve the same result silently, you can for example take a pen and paper and write it all down. Make lists, a schedule for the day or the week, or even a brainstorm. This way, you can see everything clearly!
- If these monologues occur when you’re stressed, don’t hesitate to try relaxation as a preventive measure or when you feel emotions taking over you. If it’s not one of the many breathing techniques available, you’ll find one of your own!
- Finally, if hearing your own voice doesn’t bother you personally, but makes those around you uncomfortable because they don’t know whether to reply or not or because their concentration is disturbed, consider isolating yourself! This will allow you to express yourself fully without being subjected to derogatory remarks.
Editor’s note: Assert your differenceTalking to yourself isn’t an illness! But it can be sometimes very difficult to deal with what others think. As soon as someone adopts a different behavior, they’re singled out. If this habit makes you feel uncomfortable, it’s important to detach yourself from the judgement of others in order to be completely happy and assert this difference. However, it’s a complicated exercise, as not everyone is able to ignore what others think. Self-confidence is a long process, which often needs to be carried out with the help of a professional. 🤗 Understand yourself, accept yourself, be happy... Let’s do it here and now! #BornToBeMe |
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