Do you ever hear the little voice in your head?
If you just thought ‘What little voice?’, that’s the little voice I’m talking about. You know it well: the voice that tells you what you should or should not be doing? The one that makes you feel bad for the mistakes you make? The one that won’t let you sleep at night?
Everyone has a little voice. It is called many things by many people, and it’s part of every person. And that little voice has one purpose: to protect you.
That voice is there to help you survive. It cautions you against new things. It points out anything and everything that might get you hurt in any situation. It brings to your attention the things you might have missed. The little voice is the source of most, if not all, concern and anxiety.
But wait, sometimes the little voice specifically gets you into trouble, right? Like when it guides you to mouth off or try something extremely daring? Well, actually, no, that’s not the little voice, it’s the little rebel fighting against the little voice. The little voice is there, and when it says something like ‘Whatever you do, don’t say “(something or other)”…’ one response is to say exactly (something or other). The little voice is still doing it’s job, and the little rebel is retaliating.
Most of the time, the little voice is a useful guide. We have it because it has done its job so well historically. That we as a species are alive is due in part to the warnings that the little voice has given that we have heeded.
However, like most evolutionary mechanisms, it can go too far. If the little voice saves you from speaking out against a riotous crowd, it might be protecting you; but if it makes you too embarrased to stand up in front of a group and speak on an issue, it’s a liability. If it stops you from shaking a beehive, it’s a good thing; but if it stops you from observing a bee on a flower or swimming in the ocean, it’s a liability.
And that’s why we have the little rebel. You see, the little voice would, if it could, completely stop us from doing anything at all. We would never get out of bed, for fear of what might happen if we stood up. We would be emotionally and physically immobilized.
The little rebel, then, counters this by leading us to do things outside of our comfort zone. It pushes us to stretch our limits. It makes us brave enough to grow our experience so that the little voice will allow us to do things that it would have previously prevented.
Physiology and body chemistry influence the reach of the little rebel (think of teenage boys, for instance), while past experience gives the little voice its script. Either mechanism can be a problem if it is carried too far, but both are necessary to live a healthy life. The little voice causes analysis paralysis, the little rebel leads to getting in over your head.
Listening to the little voice is a valuable skill. It is full of useful advice. It will, however, never shut up. Like a zealous preacher, it will fill you with fear, guilt, and regret at every step if you let it. Don’t try to fight it (you lose that battle no matter what); instead, listen, acknowledge what it suggests, thank it, and move on. It will give you good information much of the time, but hear it with a grain of salt. Understand that it is very biased, and that to do it’s job it must make everything sound worse than it is.
Just as important is listening to the little rebel. The little rebel will take you on adventures that will make life rich and unique. Have a sense of humor and an open mind, and look forward to where the little rebel guides you.
Probably no one ever died following their little voice to the letter, but nobody every lived that way either.
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Healthy thoughts,
Jeff
