How You Speak To Yourself Matters

I want you to think about something: How do you speak to yourself? Now, that may sound weird, but that is what we humans do. We speak to ourselves. 

And a lot of the time, what we say to ourselves is not helpful. We beat ourselves down. We fill our own minds with shame. Or maybe we make excuses for ourselves. “I’m just tired … Why did you do that? That was stupid! … Who do you think you are to do that?” Does anyone else ever struggle with that?

I heard someone say this a while back: “The way you speak to yourself matters more than you can possibly imagine.” How I speak to myself impacts how I feel, which impacts how I think, which impacts how I act. 

Here’s the other piece of advice I have found to be helpful: “Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.” If you were responsible for helping someone, how would you treat them? Is that how you treat yourself? Ultimately, we are responsible for helping ourselves. But too often, we act like our worst enemy. 

I encourage you to take time to reflect on that: “How do I speak to myself? When I’m stressed, how do I speak to myself? What about when I’m excited? Angry?” 

And then ask: “Is this helpful? Is this the right voice/the right words?”

How you speak to yourself matters because it impacts everything else. The easiest way to start is to just pay attention.