Why Talking to Yourself Is a Secret Superpower
Go ahead, talk to yourself out loud, in your head, or even in the third person! It’s hugely beneficial.
Talking out loud to oneself isn’t, generally speaking, a socially acceptable way of processing thoughts. But unless you’re viciously berating yourself, “self-talk,” as researchers call it, actually has a whole host of benefits. Whether you’re talking through a demanding task like running a marathon, or calming yourself down in an anxiety-inducing situation, self-talk might be the best unrecognized tool in your mental toolbox to amp you up, chill you out, or simply fill the time.
Internal versus external self-talk
While solitary, audible conversations may be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of self-talk, a majority of the self-talking we do is in our heads. Most researchers agree that self-talk is made up of complete — rather than fractured or half-formed — thoughts that either pass silently through our minds or which we then speak out loud to ourselves.
As it’s defined, self-talk would be the conversation I have with myself about what I should eat for lunch: “Looks like we have this tuna salad, and it’s really delicious, but I could really use the fiber of an actual salad. Ugh…
