I have an embarrassing habit I can’t break (friend, wife, mother)
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I have noticed myself doing this more since the beginning of more isolation with covid. I think it can be directly related to how much time you spend alone.
I wouldn't worry about it unless you are saying embarrassing things in public or are hearing responses.
I remember when some people would complain about people using ear buds and talking on their cellphone in public they thought it was rude. Especially in a place where folks were congregated like transportation, waiting rooms etc. They considered it rude.
I thought they were just nosey and frustrated because they couldn't hear the whole conversation.
This is not a habit. It's a sign of an aging brain. You won't be able to control it with will power, or anything else. If it were only that you do this when you're alone, it wouldn't be an issue. The problem is that you cannot inhibit it in settings where it's inappropriate. That's what points to a brain issue.
If you're really worried about deteriorating function in other areas, ask your doctor to refer you to a neuropsychologist who specializes in dementia, for testing to determine whether you're losing other functions, and whether you're in danger of not being able to manage for yourself, and if so, when to plan for this. The answer might be years from now, or never - but you need to know, so that you can plan.
As long as the only symptom is loss of the ability to inhibit impulses as demonstrated by your talking to yourself in inappropriate settings, you can still manage just fine for yourself. But you need to know what is happening, why it's happening, whether anything can be done to slow or stop the progression, and what you need to plan for. You really don't want to wind up in a situation where someone can fleece you, or where someone else is making decisions for you, that would not have been your choice for yourself.
This is not a habit. It's a sign of an aging brain. You won't be able to control it with will power, or anything else. If it were only that you do this when you're alone, it wouldn't be an issue. The problem is that you cannot inhibit it in settings where it's inappropriate. That's what points to a brain issue.
If you're really worried about deteriorating function in other areas, ask your doctor to refer you to a neuropsychologist who specializes in dementia, for testing to determine whether you're losing other functions, and whether you're in danger of not being able to manage for yourself, and if so, when to plan for this. The answer might be years from now, or never - but you need to know, so that you can plan.
As long as the only symptom is loss of the ability to inhibit impulses as demonstrated by your talking to yourself in inappropriate settings, you can still manage just fine for yourself. But you need to know what is happening, why it's happening, whether anything can be done to slow or stop the progression, and what you need to plan for. You really don't want to wind up in a situation where someone can fleece you, or where someone else is making decisions for you, that would not have been your choice for yourself.
And for those of us who have been talking to ourselves since we were spring chickens?
I think as we get older, we also put less of a filter on ourselves as we lose patience with the nonsense.
All my life I commuted through train terminals and such. I am very tall, and while I was not as self-conscious and ashamed of my height as an adult as I was when I was a teen, I still always noticed when commuting that men would look up at me, then down at my feet, I guess to see if I was wearing heels, and then back up at me with a comical gape, slightly-opened mouth, when they realized I was actually that tall. For most of the decades, it amused me and I ignored it.
But as I got older and was starting to strain toward retirement, I'd be tromping between trains and see this same crap going on and I started to say, OUT LOUD, WTF are you looking at? I don't know if they heard me, but I actually didn't care. I started to mutter other things to people I passed, too, always while commuting, and I didn't care anymore. I knew it was really time to retire.
At least when you talk to yourself in public transportation facilities in the NY metropolitan area, nobody gives you a second glance.
Talking to myself really helps me process my thoughts, but now that I do it in public, it’s no longer working for me. I feel like I don’t have control over it.
I don’t need to see a therapist for this, I just want to find a technique to control it. https://www.healthline.com/health/wh...u-want-to-stop
...and a therapist may help you find a technique and help you rehearse it so it is effective for you. Don't think that because a therapist may be one to help you that it reflects worse on what it is you want to control. If this is a thought issue or a compulsion, a therapist just might be the best way to address it. But if you can find a way to do it yourself, great...just don't think that's the only way to do it.
I am of the habit of talking (yelling) at the TV during the morning new. By stopping the TV with my Tivo and telling the news anchor why he/she is wrong it takes me 40 minutes to get through 20 minutes of news. Does this count?
Reminds me of one time when my daughter was a teenager. I was in my room, trying to work something out in my head, talking out loud, when she came barging in with "Mom, can I--", and I yelled at her to stop interrupting me.
She looked around and started to slowly back out, saying, "But there's nobody else in here, Mom. Who were you talking to?"
I do it all the time, but I'm able to control it most of the time when out in public. I just try to be more aware that there are people close by. I tend to curse a lot out loud when I am by myself.
And hey, in the supermarket, sometimes I am NOT talking to myself but talking back to that obnoxious voice coming out of the self-checkout machine.
LMFAO! I'm not surprised to read what you said, I talk to that self check out idiot voice too
I also curse out loud but I don't throw eff bombs all over like my daughter can. I've tamed my mouth a lot since working at the gas station.
I am of the habit of talking (yelling) at the TV during the morning new. By stopping the TV with my Tivo and telling the news anchor why he/she is wrong it takes me 40 minutes to get through 20 minutes of news. Does this count?
Sure does, as I see it. I find myself yelling "bull**** at the TV when some talking head or politician is making some pronouncement, so often these days that now our sweet little parakeet, who imitates everything she hears, is yelling it too.
Sure does, as I see it. I find myself yelling "bull**** at the TV when some talking head or politician is making some pronouncement, so often these days that now our sweet little parakeet, who imitates everything she hears, is yelling it too.
I try not to watch too many politicians on TV, but I do yell at the Jeopardy contestants. "HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW THAT???"
Of course, I'm silent when I don't know the answer and they do.
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