How do you refer to yourself in your head?

How do you talk when thinking?

  • I statements: "I need to get ready to go to the store."

    Votes: 67 87.0%
  • We statements: "We need to get ready to go to the store."

    Votes: 33 42.9%
  • You statements: "You need to get ready to go the store."

    Votes: 30 39.0%
  • He/she/they statements. "He/she/they need(s) to get ready to go to the store."

    Votes: 2 2.6%
  • Your name: "Y/N needs to get ready to go to the store."

    Votes: 10 13.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 4 5.2%

  • Total voters
    77

Aerith

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I caught myself using 'we' when I was lost in thoughts earlier, and that made me curious: how do you think in your head?

Typically I use 'I' statements, but I've noticed when I'm more negative, scolding myself, really trying to emphasize, or remember something for later, I will refer to myself as 'you'. I find it interesting that I innately detach myself from myself in these instances, maybe because I think it will stick more if it seems like it's coming from 'someone else'? The rare times I have used 'we' is usually when I'm trying to be encouraging or give myself a pep talk, lol. I guess to not feel alone. Like, "We got this!" or "We did a really good job today."

I've never referred to myself in third person (she/my name statements), and I assume not many people do it regularly.

If there were any options I missed, apologies! These were all I could think of. :0
 
I refer to myself as "Deku" in my head.

Nah, just kidding. It honestly rotates for me. It can be anything at any given time.
 
I definitely do "you" statements LOL like "why did you do that???" "you need to make lunch"
 
It alternates between "I", "We", and occasionally some names I go by. Well, not my actual name though because I hate that.
There's a reason it's like this but I'd rather leave that unexplained.
 
That has honesty something I have ever thought about. I would say that I would think automatically that I need to do something. If I am annoyed with myself or I have done something stupid I would think “you are an idiot” (perhaps something stronger but keeping it nice 😂)

If I am trying to motivate myself to get something done it might be “come on J, you can do this”
 
I do use 'I', but often I use 'we' due to the practice of prayer. Prayer and communion with God is something that is strived for at all times in our beliefs though I feel the practice isn't so popular in USA (or go as far?) and is more so in the Eastern World. I don't hear many naturally going to 'we', but maybe it's just how my mind ends up working and others don't work that way as much? And feelings isn't always reality..
Anyway, using 'I' or 'we' is an indicator to myself of what's been on my mind. And 'we' is reflected on because just simply using 'we' doesn't automatically mean a good thing and may need correction. Self talk and context is important for me to pay attention to. And paying attention to it can be tricky because in the moment you don't really realize it's happening until it repeats for a while. So I end up reflecting on it later as honestly as possible after noticing.
Who is we? And why? What's going on at these times? There are many reasons why words are chosen.
I haven't used 'you' now that I think about it. If I have, it must have been during my lower teens. I did read once it was a popular choice for many people in a psychology book usually during pep talks or scolding.
 
‘we’, ‘you’ and ‘I’ 😂 I don’t really think too deeply about it. I use ‘you’ when I feel alone or need some encouragement, and I think ‘I’ and ‘we’ are kind of interchangeable
 
I use "I" most of the time. "You" when I need encourage and "Idiot" when I make an embarrassing mistake.
 
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I use "I" most of the time, "you" or my name when I'm frustrated with myself and feel the need to either scold myself or give myself a pep talk.
 
I use a mix of "I"/"we"/"you". I think I tend to use "you" when I'm being kinda mean to myself and "I" and "we" most of the rest of the time, maybe a little moreso "we" like "girl we gotta go" "we're gonna be late" "oh no we forgot to get gas yesterday"
 
It depends on what I'm thinking about! For the most part I refer to myself as "I", but if I'm thinking about something that I need to do, something that I'm trying to make a decision about, trying to calm myself down after something upset me and/or trying to give myself a sort of "pep talk" to do something, I often refer to myself as "we" or "you".
 
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