Is This Your Voice? Your Idea?
a poem about that inner critic
Sometimes the voices we internalize are what others have imposed on us, unwittingly and unwillingly.
Who first told you that you aren’t pretty enough? Was it those campaigns for self-love depicting bodies that include some differences, but do not include yours?
Who first told you that you couldn’t chase that dream? Was it the reality of a structure that takes away your ability to sustain livelihood should you not choose to work on something that others need, rather than center your own needs?
Who first told you that you were different? Perhaps not by explicitly stating that you are different, but perhaps by only selecting examples that never include aspects of you?
Inviting Orla Kenny | Roselyn Violet | Humaira Iqbal | Urfa | Obinna Uruakpa | Rochelle Silva | Ema Dumitru | Sean Peck | Alex Godley| Radhika Ghose | if you’re up to it and anyone else interested to smash that writer’s block, join in on this tiny challenge and write a response, wherever it takes you! It can be a tiny poem, a shortform piece or an essay — whatever comes into that brain noodle!
Reflect on the statement: sometimes the voices we internalize are what others have imposed on us, unwittingly and unwillingly. How much does this stand true in your life? In what ways? How does this change how you perceive your inner critic, and the things that you’re afraid to do?
Submit it to The Brain is a Noodle or be sure to tag me in your response if you publish elsewhere, so I can read it and share it with the world!
Be sure to hit the 💌 button if you want these daily challenges delivered directly into your inbox!
Hi I’m Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) and this is derived from an exercise that I did in therapy. Instead of asking me to immediately to reframe and fight back at the automatic thoughts that arose, she first asked, in whose voice do you hear these voices? Even if I heard them in my own voice, I saw over time how much these words originated from external sources that I’ve somehow internalized over time. To realize how much I actually personally disagreed but also how engrained those thoughts are simply by being repeated at me ad nauseam was a powerful recognition that allowed me to move forward in the way that helped. Simply reframing didn’t help, because as a kid, simply fighting back to those external voices didn’t work — it was considered “talking back” when those harsh parental voices were considered wisdom. As an adult, I realize that I can take whatever wisdoms they had to offer but contextualize them within my current context to see if those exact words really fit, and that process was crucial in learning how to manage that internal rumination I fought for so long.
Hop down the rabbit hole? 🐰🕳
^ by James G Brennan a brother of the #OnionSquad
