talking to yourself

December 7th

I send myself a lot of emails. It might be slightly easier to write things down in a journal or my notes app, but there’s something motivational about an electronic call to action from a previous version of yourself. These charming intra-personal correspondences range from Trader Joe’s shopping lists to a 2am idea for a short story about a little girl who becomes friends with a sentient cliff face.

In the past few days, I’ve come to see the emails I send back and forth to myself as a bit more than a strange misuse of technology.

I recently learned that the little voice you hear in your head when you do things like reading, thinking through a difficult decision, or conjuring up a disturbing scenario, well not everyone has it. This was a shocking revelation for me, as someone who is well-acquainted with this voice and uses it to do just about everything. This voice, while helpful at times, takes on many tones of varying degrees of disrespect; The emails I send myself, I’ve decided, are just a mechanically articulated manifestation of one side of this voice.

Is there anything to take from this discovery? Well, not all discovery have to offer some extractive benefit, but this one might. If you’re one of the lucky some who’re accompanied by this voice in its many manifestations, look for the places it’s trying to materialize. For me, it’s my near-daily email correspondence with myself, but I have to assume yours might be different.

Good luck and good night and have fun talking to yourself 🙂