When Nordic Boy goes away on biznazz trips, I need to make plans with other people. Like, I really really need to do that. You may think this indicates that I am a weak-willed, codependent girly who can't go two days without her loverman. That is not the case. I am an independent lady. I can do for myself. I got this. Throw your hands up at me.
The reason that I go out of my way to make plans with people when Nordic Boy goes out of town is that if I don't, I can easily go through the entire time he's gone not saying one word outside of work. And to go three, four, five days without any non-work-related speech is just wrong. Right?
A big part of why this can happen to me is that when I am by myself, I don't speak. Perhaps this seems like an obvious thing to say, to some people. Of course you don't speak when you're by yourself. There's no one to speak to. But I have been conducting a little informal survey of my friends and I am realizing that most people, at least most weirdos that I hang out with, talk to themselves when they are alone. It doesn't seem to matter whether there is another person there or not, people are talking. They sing to themselves, they say hello to their plants, they make decisions out loud instead of in their head ("let's see, what shall I have for dinner tonight, Self?"). Ok, maybe they don't address their comments to "Self" like that, I don't know. How should I know? I don't do that. When I am alone, I shut up. I don't hum, I don't comment, I don't pontificate. I think to myself, inside my head, vocal cords turned off. Maybe if I stub my toe I might cuss or something. Other than that, it's crickets at my house.
So out of curiosity, I want to put this out to blogland. Do you talk to yourself when you are alone? Or are you a silence is golden type of person? Let' s hear it.
Put up or shut up. Or don't shut up, if that's how you roll.
I'm out,
Librarian Girl
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Enjoy the Silence
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22 comments:
This is much easier when you have a pet--you can pretend you're talking to the cat.
I'm so silent when alone that I've had weird moments when I finally did talk and my throat was rough and needed a few minutes to get back up to speed.
I can only assume that if I was stranded alone on a space station for a few years I would lose the ability to speak.
Lots and lots of talking to the self over here. If I'd lived in the 1600s or earlier, I would have been burned at the stake for witchcraft, consulting with Satan, etc.
I talk to my cats when I am (otherwise) alone, but before I lived with the felines I did not talk to myself. Cheers!
I absolutely talk out loud ~ to no one in particular when I'm home alone and the best part of it is, I don't have to "watch" what I'm saying. Only hope that I don't forget myself and say the wrong thing when there actually are people in the room!
Ditto on the pet thing--I talk to the dog and the cat all the time.
If I'm by myself, I mutter under my breath. Sometimes even in public.
I'm a yapper. I even talk to myself in the car and try to pretend I'm talking on my cell.
I know it's weird, but there you go.
The only speaking I do when alone is through my fingers. Which does not mean that I play with sock puppets, just that I type a lot.
So I guess I never really thought about how quiet I am when I'm alone, because I'm always writing or reading and that kind of fills the same space.
But when I get some pets...oh boy, it'll be a whole different ballgame. A woman alone playing with sock puppets will look normal compared to the conversations I'll have with my cats.
I work at a library also and my boss and I are VERY well known to talk to ourselves on a daily basis. It helps us get through somehow...If I'm at home by myself I definitely talk the dog, question (outloud) why I didn't turn the porchlight off, talk to people on the television...But if someone is at home with me I don't do these things - I only talk to them. I guess it's that need to keep my jaw moving, I dunno but you'd be amazed how much better you'd feel if you talked your way through some things you would normally do in your head. And no one will think you're crazy...for very long.
I talk to myself all the time. I have to remind myself to shut-up when I'm in public. At a department store I once worked at, all of the employees talked to themselves. We'd run around all day saying, "huh?" and "oh, nothing. I was just talking to myself." to each other.
I don't talk to myself when Dude's out of town (this whole comment, btw, is pre-Belly and The Bug) so much as blast music and sing loudly, and watch copious amounts of tv to which I comment aloud. But that's talking to the tv, not talking to myself...right? As in, "You wore THAT to the reunion show?! Like Bret's gonna change his mind and pick you all of a sudden because you showed up wearing lingerie? Skank." And so it goes.
I talk to myself, I sing, I work stuff out. It's not like I talk to myself all the time, but I totally do talk to myself, and I have to consciously shift all that speech back inside my head when I leave the apartment.
I berate myself when I'm alone-
"You forgot to mail that check. Idiot. IDIOT!"
Oh, and I sing a lot.
Mucho singing. And stupid dancing that can only take place in your living room/kitchen whilst you're alone or the peeps from the looney bin would be beckoning you into the white van.
I talk to the pets- which might as well be talking to myself.
Of course I talk to my plants when I'm alone! If I did that in front of other people, they would think I'm a weirdo or something.
no talking to myself here - though I will conduct one-sided conversations with other drivers when they piss me off in traffic. and yeah, i talk to the dog, but she listens and understnads basic commands, so that doesn't really count, since the communication is received effectively by another creature.
Not only do I talk to mySELF when alone, I talk to other people, holding imaginary conversations, what-if scenarios, etc.
i refer to myself by my last name when i'm alone--aloud, and often. i believe it helps the plants, too.
Interesting question. I'm with aishoka--we have a cat so even if I am in the house alone (WHICH NEVER HAPPENS EVER EVER EVER) I have the cat to yell at or talk to.
But don't you answer the phone? Even if you're alone don't you talk to people that way?
Huh. I guess I'm perplexed by the thought of being alone in the house for 4-5 days. I. . .I may need to lie down a bit and ponder this.
I'm dead quiet when I'm alone. That's part of what makes it so nice :)
This is a great question. I also talk to the pets a lot. And am another one who berates herself. (Though I've noticed I tend to refer to myself in the second person. As in, "you're an idiot" vs. "I'm an idiot". This worries me. Do I have multiple personalities or identity issues something?)
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