Don’t Let Anyone Talk To You Like That

As we head toward the last part of this year, one thing is certain. We are constantly bombarded and overstimulated with news of doom and gloom. This the year to focus on mental wellness. More than any other year, none of us is sure about anything, not even our very breath the next day. For self-protection we have the choice to restrict how much of it enters the mind and in turn, change the internal dialogue onto a happier channel. This may be one of the few choices for this year.

This afternoon, I interrupted my friend as she described her day. I usually sit so still through her stories that she pauses to ask, “You still there?”. Today, I never gave her a chance. Somewhere in the middle of her words she said, that she told herself to get her “act together.” I cringed when I heard those words.

“Excuuuuse me? Would you talk to your best friend like that?” I asked. She stopped and replied quizzically, “No”.

I retorted, “Well then don’t talk to my friend that way either.”

It took her a minute to catch on, that I had chided her about the way she referred to herself.

Whether negative or positive, if we hear self-talk often enough, we begin to believe the words. Telling someone to “get their act together”, implies judgment that they did not measure up to your expectation. We all meet mean people who say unkind things. It is worse when we do it to ourselves so that the self-talk hits a repeat cycle.

Don’t let anyone talk to you like that. In the 2020 world where we have limited choices available to us, we can choose gentler words for ourselves.