Mary Lucia: You talking to me?
by Mary Lucia
March 07, 2017
Studies show that talking to yourself can make you learn more quickly, think more efficiently, and boost long-term memory.
One study, printed by the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, noted many experts and studies have actually done research in order to see how talking to yourself helps. Actual science people!
Really, you mean I'm not losing my mind? (I said aloud to myself)
When I cop to talking to myself, I'm not referring to quietly reminding myself of the items I'm shopping for in the grocery store, or the stream of cuss words that are blurted when I bang my shin on the corner of the table. I mean full-blown conversations in my normal speaking voice. Of course, conversations with our pets doesn't count because everyone does that. I don't alter the tone of my voice much when addressing Lefty and Crash. If I'm addressing a naughty habit of Lefty's that is driving me to an early grave, I use my "Hal" the computer voice to stress calmly and matter-of-factly that humping his brother is unacceptable.
There's no doubt in my mind that my neighbors on either side of my backyard fence have heard a full-blown discourse from me on the finer points of making a potty when it's freezing outside. But they have also heard me chatting with myself, answering questions that I have silently been asking in my head. I'm capable of meaningful communication alone.
I used to catch myself doing this and I would feel embarrassed and self conscious. Then I started asking my friends if they do it as well. Learning my weird little secret habit was more common than I thought was a huge mental validation.
Last night's autonomous oratory was after reading a disturbing article about my childhood idol, Dr. Seuss. While a newspaper cartoonist in the 1940s, Theodore Geisel was drawing some of the most racist depictions of Africans and of Japanese people (Google it; I'm too sad and disappointed to further explain).
Just know that the next time you see someone deep in conversation with themselves, you needn't question their mental stability. They're simply talking to their most trusted friend.
I'm glad I had this talk.