Last weekend, I was finally out in the garden planting the flowers I purchased a few weeks ago. Up to this point, the horrible pollen had forced me to stay indoors. It was wonderful to be outside enjoying the light breeze, beautiful sunshine and digging in the dirt!
I was having fun deciding which plants went where.
As I was going through this process, I noticed I was not only talking to the plants, I was also talking to myself…A LOT! This realization was even more horrifying when I looked up and someone was walking by as I was having an involved conversation with myself! All I could think was…”Are you crazy?”!
So, when I went inside, very pleased with the placement of my flowers, I decided to do a different type of digging to see if I really was crazy.
It turns out you are NOT crazy if you talk to yourself. Actually, it is quite the opposite. Here are some of the fantastic things I learned about talking to yourself:
- It may indicate you are a genius! (Obviously, this is my favorite one!)
- It may be good for your mental health, especially if it’s the right conversation (e.g., positive, supportive, problem solving, not berating yourself).
- It may happen more when you are experiencing a powerful emotion (e.g., anger, excitement, stress).
- It can be a great way to process ideas, if there isn’t another person to bounce the ideas off of.
- It can sometimes change how something feels when you say it out loud.
- It can slow you down because the language center of your brain processes things differently than if you just think about it.
- It can make you intellectually more competent.
I loved discovering all these positive outcomes from something that our society tends to frown on. I doubt this will cause me to talk to myself more; however, 
maybe the next time I get “caught” I won’t feel so embarrassed. Actually, if I get an odd look from a person as I’m carrying on a conversation with myself, I may be so bold to say something like – “Have you heard, people who talk to themselves may be geniuses?”
Giving yourselves permission to accept and embrace your quirks and special talents can be very liberating! This is something I have been focused on this past year. I’m finding there’s a huge opportunity to connect more authentically with other people! Another wonderful by-product is I’m having a lot more fun being who I really am…quirks and all!
