Have you ever been made fun of by family or friends when you got caught talking to yourself? Did you feel foolish or was it something else? Do you make it a regular habit? When was the last time you had an incident like this? Do you remember what the discussion was about with yourself? Who caught you, and what was the result? If you have ever had this happen to you, it made you…. you!
I’ve done a lot of public speaking during my lifetime and I always practice in front of a mirror so that I can gauge the audience reaction to my topic. It also allows me to see what I look like with my appearance and gestures. I can remember I was in our bathroom practicing a speech and didn’t notice my daughter had peeked around the corner to see who I was talking to. She was about 5-6 at the time and totally caught me off guard as I was concentrating on my presentation.
“What are you doing daddy and who are you talking too”? First of all, I nearly jumped out of my skin as I was so startled and was totally not expecting someone to see me. The next thing I realized (after my heart stopped racing) was that I needed to answer my young child. As is always my habit, I always try to give my daughter a humorous response to these situations. I simply replied that her daddy was the smartest man I know and since I need advice every once in a while, I ask myself. She looked at me curiously for a few moments and her reaction was what had become normal. She ran to ask her Mom if this was true. Mooomeeeee! I heard her exclaim as she ran down the hall to find my wife. Trust me, I knew I would be chastised in private later after my darling daughter went to bed. And…. I wasn’t disappointed. I got an earful from my charming bride.
So, if you find yourself, talking to yourself, maybe it’s not so bad. But if you start arguing back and forth……you might have issues. (Ha-Ha!).