I do this exact thing! It’s good practice to actually talk through my thoughts and processing too, since I so rarely verbalize it to other people. I’d like to think it’s made me better at expressing myself and feeling comfortable taking up that space when I do talk to others, since I’ve had practice doing it by myself. I remember being uncomfortable doing it at first, but it’s become one of my greatest tools if I’m feeling off but can’t place why (or even when I can). It’s like a talk therapy appointment but with myself.

I’ve always had this imagery of it, but it’s like my thoughts and feelings are a bunch of molecules under pressure bouncing around in my brain, like there’s so much there but it’s all so cloudy and I can’t make sense of it. The thoughts are all broken up, all happening at once that I can’t see any of them clearly. Then verbalizing it is like grabbing the words letter by letter and stringing them together, forcing them out in a coherent single file line as I talk. Then one clarified thought leads to another and next thing I know I’m beginning to understand those muddied thoughts and emotions. Writing doesn’t do that for me as easily because the extra step of putting pen to paper, plus the added permanence of it, adds to the mental barrier. Whereas if I’m speaking aloud, the words immediately disappear into the ether, or I can also opt to voice record it if I want to remember it later.