I’m Talking to Myself. Am I Crazy?

It’s no secret that we talk to ourselves every day. Most of us spend much of our day conversing with ourselves in one form or another — either out loud or silently in our minds. You may have felt self-conscious about it and wondered if, perhaps, you were going crazy. Rest assured, not only is it perfectly normal and natural to talk to yourself, but there are some great benefits to talking through your thoughts.

Why Do We Talk to Ourselves?

We talk to ourselves for many reasons. It could be to ward off loneliness, as the sense of having company can be mimicked to some degree by an internal or external dialogue with ourselves. We don’t have to feel entirely alone whilst we can converse with our own consciousness. We’re also able to process our opinions and emotions through self-talk.

Talking to ourselves can help us evaluate memories and even solve conflicts. It allows us to be objective and introspective about what we believe the right course of action in a given situation would be. Maybe you hear a song on the radio and it reminds you of a friend you disagreed with. You may, in that situation, remember what happened to cause the breakup and decide to apologize for your part.   

The Benefits of Talking to Yourself

Self–talk interrelates your conscious thinking with your unconscious beliefs, biases, and knowledge. So, go ahead, have a chat with yourself. It is perfectly normal. Self-talk provides many benefits that may include the following:

Aids Cognitive Development

Self-talk aids your brain in working quickly and with more precision. If you were to talk to yourself about where your hairbrush could be while searching for it,  you would be solidifying the aim of finding it in your conscious mind. Talking to yourself makes it far easier to find lost items, complete tasks, and remember things that require your attention. It improves working memory. If you were to put your hairbrush away while saying out loud what you are doing, you are far more likely to remember where it is the next time you go looking for it.

Improves Learning and Listening Ability

Talking to yourself helps you learn new things. You could learn how to pronounce a new word by saying it out loud and hear whether the phonetics sounds correct or not. By talking yourself through whatever task you’re busy with, it assists in understanding what will and what will not work to accomplish the task.

Almost all you’ve learned as an infant was through listening to those around you and the same principle applies once you’ve grown up. Children remain focused by talking their way out of a problem. You can teach yourself new things and cement them in your consciousness by talking to yourself about them.

Organize Your Thoughts and Relieve Anxieties

Talking to yourself can help you organize your thoughts. If your mind feels like it is running through a ton of things all at once, then saying out loud what you are thinking helps to center your thinking in one direction. You can relieve the anxieties of your buzzing thoughts by speaking about them to yourself.

People often think there is more on their minds than there is, when in fact it is often just a few thoughts but they’re not organized. If you can talk yourself through what you are thinking then you can calm your mind by having your thought less chaotic and more rational.

Makes Your Goals More Attainable

Self-talk assists you with focusing on and achieving the goals you set for yourself. Often your ambitions can feel unachievable and overwhelming. By talking through your list of obligations, you are better equipped to prioritize them and work through each small step until you’ve reached your goal.

Give Yourself a Pep Talk

Self-talk might be helpful when trying to give yourself a boost of enthusiasm and motivation whenever you need one. Talking to yourself when you’re feeling demotivated and it seems difficult to concentrate, is a great way to get the needed boost.

Telling yourself that you can do something, out loud, with self-affirmations can get you thinking much more positively. It’s like watching your favorite game. Have you ever heard men shouting at the referee on their television screens while watching the soccer game? That’s the effect.

Rehearse Future Conversations that Might Be Difficult

You can use self-talk to practice a conversation that you are about to have with someone that you are unsure of, or that could be confrontational if not handled properly. If you want to ask your boss for a raise or talk to your spouse about an unfair situation; perhaps he should be helping more with housework, this offers a great way of communicating effectively. Self-talk helps you to decide on exactly what you want to say and plan the best way to get your point across without tripping over your words in front of someone else. 

Release Anger

Talking to yourself can assist tremendously with getting rid of pent up anger and frustration. Just saying whatever you want to say is not always appropriate when directed at other people. When it’s just you and your thoughts, you’ll be able to say whatever you want and, however you want to say it — throwing caution and manners to the wind. Tell your boss, colleague, or friend just what you think, and how angry they’ve made you feel, without jeopardizing your relationship.

Takeaway

I’m talking to myself. Am I crazy? Certainly not! Talking yourself does not make you even a tiny bit crazy. Everyone does it and if they are not doing it, research shows that they should. With all the thoughts rattling through your head you could never possibly work your way through processing them all with another person. Self-talk benefits far outweigh the slight chance of being caught talking to yourself. It is a sign of high cognitive functioning and increases brainpower.