[Lightlilly]

Do you talk to your self?
I guess that's not the best way to put it...

since I have trouble sometimes talking to people....because I tend to have to stop and really think about what words best express the point I'm trying to get across....

Some times when I know I'm going to have to talk to someone about something
I go over the conversation....

Like,
if I'm driving to work...and I have a lot to talk to my boss about, perhaps an incident that happened the previous day

I will literally sit in my car (alone, I only do this when I'm alone)
and say what I would say out loud.... (this is where I appear to be talking to myself)
then revise it...
and say it again
then revise again....
say it again

until it sounds smooth,
until I get the words that best fit what I wanted to say, that way they are already at my grasp when I actually have to explain/ say what I needed to say
-so they don't give me that: "get to the point look"
when I actually go talk to them
I do that a lot when I'm driving by myself

So I want to know if any of you do this too, or if I'm just really really weird :tongue:

 

[pigeon]

I do on occasion, although usually I just talk out conversations in my head. I talk out loud, for no real reason and not to anyone a lot though. :tongue:

 

[GoodOldDreamer]

Yeah, I tend to have conversations in my head all the time. It can be about upcoming conversations, past ones that I wish would've gone better, etc. Unfortunately, all the rehearsal is for not though, since conversations generally don't go as planned, lol. For me, anyway.

 

[flicker099]

Sometimes when I'm thinking about what to say in an imagined scenario, I get so focused on what I'm thinking, I start talking out loud. It helps me sometimes to get what I want to say out in the open, but I only do it when I'm alone. So other people won't think I'm too crazy haha!

I think we kind of do the same thing. We rehearse what we say to others to make sure we sound alright. Don't be embarrassed by it, because I think a lot of people practice doing speechs/conversations, but they don't want to admit it. Some people like to rehearse and think about what they want to say. Others (extroverts) just say whatever pops into their head haha! And it is all good!

 

[Kyrielle]

I, too, rehearse conversations in my head. Actually, to be more accurate, I rehearse any activity where the outcome is unsure in my head. Usually, though, interactions with other people are the most prone to having an unpredictable outcome. New activities, like kayaking for the first time, require only a few rehearsals of researched "basics" before I'm confident.

The scary part is when the voice in my head rehearsing is almost loud enough to be my own voice, that I don't know if I actually said what I was just thinking. For example, I'll be thinking of a question to ask a customer at work seconds before I say it, but by the time I ask it, I feel like I've just asked them that. So, if you catch me when I'm getting a bit "out of it", you'll hear me start going "Wait, did I ask you that already? No? Oh, good..."

As for talking to myself, I do this sometimes. Usually, if I a really GREAT idea coalesces in my head, like I suddenly understand the ENTIRETY of a subject I've been dabbling in semi-consciously, I really feel the need to tell someone about it. I want to share my revelation so they'll hopefully experience the awesomeness of this amazing idea. But, there's rarely anyone around that cares or wants to discuss such things...and most of this thinking is done when alone. So, I get up and pace the room and talk out loud to someone I'm imagining in my head. Most of the time, I just want someone to get excited with me and go "OMG THAT'S TOTALLY AWESOME! What if it was also like this?!" And then we can create this loop of thoughtgasm where we keep making the idea even more epic and amazing every iteration. (Of course, this gets hard when I have someone who uses Ne a lot and starts going all over the place with the idea. I can't keep up!)

 

[ohnoezitsjoez]

All. The. Time.

If I am walking through the grocery store, I am talking to myself, audibly but low, pretty much the entire time. Or I talk to the food.

I play out conversations, I will speak audibly and then imagine the person replying in my head. This could be conversations I wish I could have, or conversations I plan on having etc. I have gotten quite good at this, almost makes me wonder about acting...

I do it partly as a means of venting, partly because I like to think out loud, and partly because I am the only person I have to really talk to.

 

[MuChApArAdOx]

To the point it's almost embarrassing to think about, or talk about

 

[viva]

I think what you're talking about here is a different thing than what I think of when I hear the term "talking to yourself".

I hardly ever rehearse conversations out loud. Or at all. But hell... I talk to myself all the time. I'm meandering around my bedroom in the morning, getting ready, chattering about everything. See something strange on the news-- "THAT'S SO WEIRD!" to no one. Or "Maybe I should go to the gym today! It's been a while..." "I'm having such a good hair day!" just completely meaningless, inconsequential blabbering. Which is not something I notice INFJs doing very often, if at all.

I don't think it counts as talking to yourself if you're rehearsing a conversation with someone else. That makes you a little bit more sane.

 

[RoughEstimate]

It's gotten so intense that I've had to hold my cell phone to my ear to deflect attention from my insanity.
As far as confidants go, I'm my favorite.
I just...get me .

 

[Ntuitive]

Yeah. I usually talk to myself when I'm annoyed or lonely. Mainly when I'm walking around and and I feel self conscious or just dumb. And I'm trying to rationalize something. It always seems to be when I'm at the grocery store walking around. Grocery stores just seem way too awkward to me for some reason. People pushing around carts looking at food and just looking serious and making eye contact, and the lighting sucks. It's just the worst. And then it's all cold and the tile is plastic and rubbery and disgusting and all these malfunctioning shopping carts with wheels just uneven. And then like you're looking at plastic forks and standing there and then some man wants to look at the plastic knives and he's real close so then in your head you're like, "well I guess I can step out of the way for a second to question whether or not I actually need plastic forks while this man in a brown jacket picks up the box of plastic knives and puts it [email protected]!!!!!!" It's so awkward. So when I'm in the grocery store I talk to myself to not lose my mind. And everyone's so serious, and then I keep seeing the same strange woman pushing her cart and we're both lost because neither one of us knows where to find beans. Trying to navigate through aisles and going around people and bumping their carts. And then it's impossible to find olives and I'm like WTFFF. And all this raw fish and live lobsters that I feel sorry for just swimming in the tank with the tag on them, and then I end up in the frozen foods and cleaning supplies areas while looking for katchup. I hate everything about grocery stores. So I talk to myself in order to cope with such a terrible experience. So I'm talking to myself the whole time.

And then waiting in line is so awkward. Everyone is just so serious and I'm standing there looking over at the women's magazines and mint gum wondering if I should just get a pack of gum to chew it to feel like it was actually placed there for a reason. And then the cashier is all serious asking me how I'm doing. And I'm like "Hi how are you? " and then I'm sliding my credit card having this feeling that the person next in line is too close to me and then the beeps of each item being scanned. And all these thin plastic baggs. I talk to myself cussing about the entire process until I get to my car. Then I turn on music to get over the experience. And I just have all this food in my car and I'm concerned that the eggs are going to crack. Just plastic bags all thin and making swishing noises and the corners of the boxes of cereal poking out. It's so awful.

 

[atsleepwalkingpace]

I have conversations in my head all all all the time, and sometimes I mouth or say the words out loud when I'm alone...sometimes not as alone as I think :/

I'm gonna go talk to someone about this, I think you know who...

 

[vanilla_dream]

I talk to myself like how a schizophrenic would respond when they're hearing auditory hallucinations. With hand gestures. Privately, I strive. But sometimes I do get caught, especially if they don't knock before they enter my room. Needless to say, I'm fuming inside. :/

 

[The Proof]

I'm not good company

 

[ideologicalflowz]

I like to practice conversations a lot. When I was younger, I had trouble speaking, so I had to practice constantly. Even for something as simple as asking to borrow a pencil. It was really embarrassing for me, so I practiced talking whenever I got the chance. I guess I probably looked odd to outsiders, but it was better than constantly stumbling over and choking on my words. It eventually got to the point where I would just sit there in my spare time and think about all the different types of conversations I might have. I would think about what I would say if I were initiating a conversation, or if someone were to come up to me. I would think about what I would say if I were talking to someone I was familiar with, or with a complete stranger. And for the people I already knew, I would use my knowledge of them to predict what they might say in every situation and come up with a response for every condition. So I would just sit there thinking of all these scenarios and then rehearse them aloud. Ahhh, good times!

 

[Antipseudonym]

I was lazy to read all the posts, so I may say again something that's already said. In that case, sorry.

Anyway, I do talk to myself when I alone. It started when I was about 6, I think. First it started cause I haven't had friends in that period, I was really isolated. But it went on, I have friends now, and I feel free to talk about almost everything to my best frind, but there are things I have to keep in myself, so I can talk about them just when I'm alone.

 

[frietfriet]

I never practice conversations out loud, I just go over them in my head.

However, I talk to myself all the time (when no one is around). There's so much going on in my brain, like a constant stream of thoughts and it gets so confusing. Talking to myself out loud helps me to structure my thoughts. If I wouldn't do this, I think I would get lost in the chaos.

And, it makes me feel like there's always someone around, even if I'm "alone".

 

[Lightlilly]

I think what you're talking about here is a different thing than what I think of when I hear the term "talking to yourself".

I hardly ever rehearse conversations out loud. Or at all. But hell... I talk to myself all the time. I'm meandering around my bedroom in the morning, getting ready, chattering about everything. See something strange on the news-- "THAT'S SO WEIRD!" to no one. Or "Maybe I should go to the gym today! It's been a while..." "I'm having such a good hair day!" just completely meaningless, inconsequential blabbering. Which is not something I notice INFJs doing very often, if at all.

I don't think it counts as talking to yourself if you're rehearsing a conversation with someone else. That makes you a little bit more sane.

most of those sort of thoughts don't really make it out of my mind, what I do is more like ^^^ ohnoezitsjoez
response, except I usually don't do it in public
.....don't want to attract attention to myself xP

 

[flicker099]

Sometimes when I'm thinking about what to say in an imagined scenario, I get so focused on what I'm thinking, I start talking out loud. It helps me sometimes to get what I want to say out in the open, but I only do it when I'm alone. So other people won't think I'm too crazy haha!

So remember when I said I only talk out loud when I'm alone? I totally did it in high school today. I was a student aid in a history class (aka a study hall, but it is in a classroom.) and I was on the computer, and my internet started to freak out and I started talking to the computer, "No! No! Stop it!".

My teacher stopped his lecture and told me to stop talking to myself, because there is only one crazy person allowed in his classroom and that's himself. I was so embarrassed, but he is my favorite teacher so I knew he was just teasing me for interrupting his class haha.

The class was underclassmen so I didn't care what they say or thought about me because I am a senior and I'm leaving in a month!

But that was definitely the most embarrassing thing I did in public in a long time. But it's a funny story and I can laugh at myself about it. And to be honest, I wasn't talking to myself, I was talking to the computer! (Not much better I guess haha!)

 

[neenie]

All the time since I was a little girl. My Mum and Nana actually used to tell me I would get locked up in the funny farm if I didn't stop! I would always go over past conversations and talk how I wish they had gone if that makes sense. I don't do it as much now I'm older I seem to be able to have conversations in my head but occasionally I will burst something out loud! God I sound like such a freak!

 

[Killbain]

I don't talk to myself, so much as talk through things myself (a bit like Mary describes in the OP - rehearsing conversations). It can be very useful making sure information is correct and articulated well, and identifying possible pitfalls or traps in discussions and negotiations.