There is No "I" in Team, But There is A "U" in...

Have you ever noticed how much you say the word “I” in a day?

Start counting and you will probably be surprised (and if you are like me.. even a little embarrassed) at how much we talk about ourselves. I had a friend a couple weeks ago tell me that his brother is bothered if he says the word “I” too often because it makes him feel selfish. I reflected on this briefly but didn’t give it too much though until…..

 If you are addicted to IFLS (I F#%king Love Science for those not in the know) you may have come across the video they posted recently about how Social Media is literally rewiring out brains. We have now become so obsessed with talking about ourselves that it registers in our brain the same way a drug addiction would. Even more so, brain scans have determined that people get more of a rise out of talking about themselves than they do listening about others. This got me thinking about how much I talk about myself all day and makes me wonder what kind of validation I am secretly seeking, if I seem self-centered to others and if this is just normal human behavior…

Since the dawn of time (okay.. well at least since I have been cognitively listening to stories from my elders about themselves…) people have seemed to enjoy talking about well, themselves. Everyone needs to vent every now and then about their day or likes to tell the “back in my day” stories,  but when did this become an addiction? Has it always been? Is this some sort of crazy human evolution happening before our eyes? Are we going to get so wrapped up in ourselves that we stop caring about others and closing ourselves off from learning others ways of life? So many questions, which lead me to more questions … none of which I have an answer to yet.

With that being said, my challenge to you (and myself) is to evaluate how much we talk about ourselves. Note how you feel when you do so. Try to go a few days without posting something about yourself or your day on facebook and see how that makes you feel. Anxious? Nervous? For those of us with ADHD.. like we’re about to effing explode if we don’t get all the words out.. right now!!! ;-)

Reflect on how you could broaden your horizons if you listened more and “I”d less. It’s kind of a double edged sword though because if no one is talking about themselves, how do we communicate our feelings, hopes, dreams and fears to one another? Maybe all that is over rated as well… Really, it’s questions for me. Questions all the way