Someone To Talk To.

Fine. I admit. I talk to myself.

I think that everyone does it to some extent, although I could just be excusing my own insanity. But I mean, if you're working at a computer terminal with someone, trying to figure out how a software program works, and you get up to get a drink on the other side of the room, and while there you overhear them mumble "Now let's see what happens if we do this!"...you know they're not talking to you.

Sometimes, you just reach a point, after a good long while working solely in your head, that you just need to voice things.

The weird thing for me was to realise that there were different ways of doing it!

A few years ago (ok, having just glanced at a calendar I now realise that it was actually many, many, years ago) I shared a flat with a good friend of mine, Chris. There were lots of guys with that name in our social circle so we mainly called him Patch, which was a corruption of his last name.

While living with him I had the opportunity to overhear Patch talking to himself on a number of occasions, and I remember being thoroughly unclear as to which of us was less sane. I still am.

You see when I talk to myself, I’m pretending that I’m having a conversation with another person; indeed I sometimes use it as a method of reminding myself to tell people things (usually funny stories) by role-playing that conversation on my own (look at me trying to make it seem healthy).

Patch, on the other hand, does actually talk to himself.
At least he seems to.
For instance, I would never say: “Don’ t forget to shave.”.
I’ m more likely to come out with: “Now; what’ s the betting I forget to shave?”.
The difference is slight but probably telling.

Hmmm....now that I think about it, it’s gotta be healthier to merely speak thoughts aloud, than to vocalise one side of a conversation with an imaginary other!

Presumably, taken to a logical extent, singing whilst alone (in the shower, or the car or whatever) also counts. And a huge number of people are happy to admit to that. The radio doesn't have to be on for this to happen; you don't have to be singing along to any melody but the one in your head.

If we extend the limits even further to "communicating with one's self", then whistling* must also count. And people tend to whistle while they're content, if not outright happy.

Does this mean then that when emotions reach a certain strength, (be they happiness, anger, frustration, pain, boredom etc.), we just have a natural tendency to express them in our favourite way, i.e. by voicing them?

You tell me.

You can pitch in on whether or not I'm crazy too.

[*Fun fact, in Hong Kong where I am, you'll literally never hear a native whistle. Ever. EVER. If you ever need to keep track of each other in a crowd here, do that. At worst you'll find another foreigner and make friends.]

Love,

Ikem.