Talking to yourself...

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i talk to myself constantly, and i sort of direct most of this talk to the air beside me, to "imaginary" people - i don't mean as in a hallucination or delusion (i don't believe that there is anyone beside me to whom i am speaking); i mean i "pretend" that i'm talking (or, more frequently, arguing) with someone who isn't there. this may be someone i know, as in practicing conversations, or rehashing them, or grinding things around in my brain in circles without being able to stop. or it may be someone i've never met, or someone wholly imagined, just going about ordinary daily activities and speaking what i'm thinking.

i used to think this was from having gotten into the habit of imaginary friends and later whole imaginary worlds when i was a kid. but now i think it's just the way my brain works. if i'm not talking i'm not really thinking. and for social situations, especially, i need a lot of rehearsal.

that's all rationalization, of course, because i just do it and i don't really know why.

i try to control it in public, but i don't always succeed. i also hum and sing a lot in public, and mostly, this is a good cover for the externalized internal monologue thing, though annoying in itself.

i never even noticed how weird it was until i got cats and they freaked out the first few times i addressed the empty air beside me. unlike humans, they get used to weirdness.

on a related topic, do any of you find yourselves kind of paralyzed with self-argument?

Often and critically so. I do my best to avoid paralyzation, but it can cause just as many problems to not listen to myself.

worst case scenario, and one i replay often, is ending the argument by just giving in to the thing i'm arguing with myself over. impulse control is a never ending battle and sometimes... almost always... it's easier to just not fight with myself.

cin said:

I often do this. I say things to people that I should have said, or in planning a future conversation (sometimes these never even come to fruition), or just saying stuff that I really want to say to someone yet don't have the guts or the words when the time comes.

Many times in high school, I would go into the chapel after school (not religious, just enjoy the quiet) and would give speeches to the "audience" in the pews.

I think that talking to oneself, especially when one has a brain which is reluctant to bring forward the proper words in the moment, gives one the opportunity to practice these important things, so that if the time comes, one might have the words more easily accessible as they have already been practiced.

I agree. It works, too. Even if the situation doesn't turn out quite how you practiced it, the fact that you see one possible complete resolution can help with confidence... and sometimes actually make the right words happen.

Very rarely, and when I do, it's away from other people, and it's usually to just cuss at myself for doing something stupid.

pyraxis said:

Oh, yes. I hate when the other person says something that I hadn't planned for. Throws me totally off and I get surprised and then stuck and then of course DUMBFOUNDED.

"Uhhhhhhh..."

I often feel like saying "You can't ask that! I didn't plan for that question!!"

I also talk to an imaginary person in conversations about topics ranging from AOM to global politics. I can more or less prevent myself from doing so in public, but the problem is that it is so fun. In these sessions I create the ideas that also give me great amusement- such as casting out demons of stupidity. I enjoy being eccentric.

I related to Gollum when I read Lord of the Rings. My presious is my space. The time I get on my own.

I do what others have mentioned with the practicing dialogs before and after actual events. Sophist, you cracked me up AGAIN! I totally get that "Uh..ah...you were not supposed to say that!" I might start telling them that. Hey, when I say you name out loud, I always say Solphist...no...Sophist.

I ALWAYS get people asking "Are you talking to me?" I hate it when I get interupted like that!

TELL THEM ABOUT THE PLAN OF THE SUPREME ANT!

LOL, Elfman.

"Excuse me, nosy! Could you please stay out of my conversation with myself? This is private!"

TELL THEM OF THE PLAN OF THE SUPREME ANT AND PEOPLE WILL LEAVE YOU ALONE!

<--- the Sort-Of-Supreme-Ant...

THAT IS NOT THE SUPREME ANT!

Nope. It's the Sort-Of-Supreme-Ant