Random thoughts while driving
I am going to take a break from my pointless breakdowns of movies and talk about pointless things I think about while driving around doing my daily tasks. I am sure we all do it. A brilliant, earth shattering, so important you can’t believe no one has ever thought of this moment! Only to forget what it was when you arrive at your destination and do something that actually matters. But sometimes I have the best conversations with myself. I don’t even care that I look unhinged. I have even stopped acting like I am on the phone and just embrace the fact that I may have lost my sanity. But is it really that crazy?
Verbalizing things has a therapeutic and calming effect on the mind. That’s why we always feel better when we talk about something that has been weighing on us, even if the problem isn’t necessarily solved. Talking to yourself can have the same outcome. Putting whatever it is out there in the open, even just for yourself, can help you work through something. Kind of works the same way as writing, which I also use an outlet. In my younger days I would try and write brooding poetry that was spilling out my soul, a Real Robert Frost over here. But it wasn’t. I found old notebooks with stuff I had written when I was 15 or 16 and was just embarrassed. Now I just write blog posts that are only slightly less embarrassing.
Therapy has been gaining in popularity and has become normalized, as it should. But it wasn’t always like that. Therapy was viewed with a stigma that there is something wrong with you if need to talk to a stranger about your problems. But that isn’t really true. Its called being human. We all are going to have moments or even longer periods in our life where we kind of feel lost, misplaced or just confused. As you get older and start to see first hand how cruel this world is, having someone you can trust and talk to is invaluable. Whether than person is a paid professional or not. The point is trust. You can say things that you are afraid to verbalize without fear of someone overreacting to something you don’t even mean, you just need to say it. Talking to yourself or writing it down can be the first step in getting whatever is weighing on you out there.
Have you ever built something up so large in your head that its almost paralyzing? But then you can’t take it anymore and blurt it out? Is it as monumental as you had feared? Most of the time it depends on the audience…
Now, I am in no way downplaying induvial feelings and circumstances. But in the right climate talking things out can help you realize that what you feared isn’t worth fearing, or there’s a way to solve this problem. Extreme self reliance can be dangerous. A head coach has a support staff and assistants, presidents have cabinets, you get the picture. As individuals we don’t know everything because we live life from our perspective. That perspective is shaped by how we were raised, where we live and who or what influences us. Having someone we trust share a different perspective can be beneficial. That doesn’t mean we will agree with them, or follow their suggestions. But the simple fact that we shared something extremely personal with another person knowing it stays there can result in good.
Husbands and wives can be that for each other. Life long friends, parents, even professionals and the list goes on. Your issues may not be solved by talking them out but you’ll feel better and have some clarity on how you can at least cope the trial. So next time you see someone talking to themselves it could be their first step in working through an issue. Be kind and understanding.
