Talking to yourself

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Having a universation topic

Sometimes Myself joins in with Me and I.

I like the hypothetical listener concept, but I think there are separate forms of talking to yourself. That is one, and the other is actually having a conversation/argument with yourself. There may be more forms than that even

I do both of those things, although rarely out loud in public. Arguing with myself is not something I do out loud ever, although I will reason with myself out loud hardcore when I'm anxious or frustrated, or redirect myself out loud if I need to be doing something and am getting sidetracked.

Most of my talking to myself out loud is off-handed comments about something I happen to be doing casually. Like earlier I was looking around in my fridge to make sure I had something to eat later on tonight. I found a partially-eaten jar of chili and I was like

"Nice! How much you think's left in there?"

*unscrews cap to check*

"Half? Maybe a little more? That will definitely work"

It's hard to describe my level of awareness of the fact that I'm actually talking out loud as these snippets of conversation are occurring. I guess I'd say semi-aware, although I'm usually close to fully aware, it's just totally automatic.

I used to have a whole imaginary social life!! With the years I've tried to end it as much as I can but there are times I'm just distracted and my mind goes out for a spin. Like when I'm driving, so many times I don't remember to actually have looked at the road and very often will just drive past my destination or miss the next turn. I'm told I make facial expressions as if in a dialogue. When I was a kid I would make a complete fictional series with diferent episodes and I could spend hours developing an imaginary life with diferent themes for days or weeks in which I would be the star. One thing that is really bad for me and I fight back is when I feel I have to step up to someone to demand something or I feel there's some kinda s*** going on behind my back (I've come to accept that most of the times it's just paranoia) and I idealize a nasty dialogue I would put to practice and that just gets my anxiety levels to a climax and when I actually meet the person, whether I intend or not to confront, I will just start to shake and can't speak straight and I suppose will probably send the strangest or worst subliminal signs possible. And when I think negatively of someone I can't face them as if I'm afraid they can look up my brain through my eyes! So I try to be positive as far as I can when talking to myself because I know there's a direct relation in the way I perceive my imaginary world and the way I react in the real world...

sometimes if i am alone and feeling silly i will repeat nonsense phrases to myself over and over. sometimes in a variety of voices. sometimes just in the same voice but in a good feeling loop. i have done this for as long as can remember. i especially do it when i am in the shower.

an example of a nonsensical sentence i would say is "snoozy snake". the word snooze is one i often ramble because it is funny to me most of the time. and i will say "snoozy snake snoozy snake snoozy snake" and then i might yell "SNOOZY SNAKE" or sometimes i will just say the word snooze on it's own. but in different ways like i'll draw it out like 'snoooooooooooooooze' or really quickly like "snoozesnoozesnoozesnoooooooze" and i might end up laughing alot if i continue it for long enough.

also if i see something on the television that makes me think something intensly i may exclaim at it verbally, usually words wont come out, just sounds. but i know what i'm trying to say because i am thinking the actual words in my head, there's just not enough time in between seeing the thing on tv and my verbal reaction to form the appropriate word.....i'm not sure if this counts as talking to myself or not....but it does to me because i am talking words in my head, just only odd sounds reach my mouth!!

The machine speaks to me.

yeah, I think my roommate is starting to get suspicious

I sometimes talk to a hypothetical listener, and sometimes to myself when I'm problem solving. I rarely talk to myself in front of others, though it has been known to happen, especially the muttering I do when I'm concentrating on a problem. I also rehearse conversations and go over recent conversations by talking to myself, when I'm alone. Sometimes when my mind is spinning or too busy, I have trouble reading because I can't focus. So I read aloud softly to myself to get me focused on the words and topic, and then change to silent reading once I'm focused in. Again I try to only do that when I'm alone.

To me, talking to myself seems normal, but I learned a long time ago that not everyone thinks of it that way. I used to sometimes do it at the office, but that was rare. At home, my husband and I both do it. If one overhears and says "What?" the person doing it just says "I was talking to myself." Then the other says, "Oh. Okay." No big deal.

We also talk to our pets, and I know some people think that's strange. (I feel sorry for their pets, if they have any.)

I'm glad I'm not the only one who does this.

And to those who said there are two kinds of talking to yourself, I'd say there's 4. There's the talking to a hypothetical listener, the side-effect of replaying conversations, practicing potential conversations, and the true "talking to yourself" - discussing/arguing with yourself.

I do both, replay conversations, especially ones that went wrong and fix them the way I wanted it to end, not the way it did. Also, if someone bothers me and I want to tell them something, but I am afraid too, unfortunately, the thing bothering me about someone plays on in my head, especially if they said something that I could not react to. In a way, when I do "replay" the conversation, fixing it so the memory would go away, if I need to say something to that person the next time, I know what to say this time, except if I end up messing up again due to nerves.
Blackcat: the talking to myself also soothes my nerves, especially if I want to say something that I am unable to say to others.
Also, I am always shouting out my cat Garfield's name, when excited and/or anxious. I automatically do that, though it can get embarrassing when I am in public.

Yeah, but I only do it alone. Sometimes it feels nice to talk to myself when I'm alone.

I talk to myself sometimes, used to do a lot more before I got a job where I talk all the time.
I love to feel myself talk, the rumble in my vocal cords, concentrating on the pear shaped tones, modulating my voice, making it sound as smooth and rich as a Lindt d'Or truffle's slow melt center . . . .

I talk to myself pretty much whenever I'm alone. Also, I sometimes shout things that make no sense, and sometimes laugh about them:

"You go Amy's Heart", "One red light!", "Our language!"

Yup, I do this.

Mostly when alone, but if I'm sick or stressed, I sometimes do it accidentally in front of others..

Yes, I enjoy talking to myself. If I am alone in the car, I will often talk to myself---about my interests. When I am getting ready to go to sleep, I won't talk out loud (people are trying to sleep here), but I will think my conversations.

Yes I start talking to my self when I am out walking sometime and can be quite embarrassing when you don't know you are doing it though and people start looking at me

I've started doing this more at work recently, got some odd glances and some conversations with the other staff that go something like:

them: "what was that?"
me: "what?"
them: "you said something?"
me: "oh, talking to myself"

Think they're getting used to it now, but seems to happen more when I'm stressed out.