“Voiceover”

I habitually listen to Jay Shetty’s podcast, ‘On Purpose’. He is one of the few people I can listen to talk about life, challenges, growth mindset, life learnings, and his reference to Bhagwadgita (which I still need to read). His interviews with some of the psychologists, psychiatrists, celebrities, and other famous personalities always have something that will stay with me long after I have heard the podcast. And so, at the risk of being abrupt (because it is way past my bedtime) after the last one I heard, this happened. 

We all have that voice in our head that generally makes it unbearable for us to breathe, exist, or just keep going. Our subconscious is always active, but for anxious humans like myself, it is additionally always waiting for the worst to happen. So when I came across the podcast where Alexis Ren was the guest I decided to take her suggestion. This is the day my subconscious mind or the forever anxious side, was named, Bob (I think the movie minions is my inspiration if I try to look for a reason). Something fun but not too funny. A name I wouldn’t mind screaming at or even shutting up. Alexis’s voice is named adorably hilarious ‘Bert’. It is physically quite challenging to take the voice of Bert seriously. It is funny that she picked a masculine name because I ended up naming mine too masculine, Bob (nothing against the name Bob). 

Now a new relationship has started between the voice in my head and me. I have panic attacks that keep me up at night, along with regular crying in the car, etc. Nothing has changed, but it is satisfying to scream ‘Shut Up, Bob! No one is interested in what you think’. I know it is a bit mean, but you should hear the stuff he says to me.

My girls ended up naming theirs as well. So now our after-school conversations are a lot about their voices (names undisclosed) and Bob. We discuss how many times we laughed at the voice compared to crying most of the times in the past. This only proves Bob’s power has dwindled considerably. Every day, my girls ask if I screamed at Bob today, to which my answer is usually yes. We put our very active and forever-on-fire brains together to come up with ways to ask Bob to shut up. 

Keep quiet Bob, I am in the middle of writing.

No one is interested Bob, take a walk. 

Shut up Bob.

Aarggghh, you are so annoying Bob. 

Out of these my favorite is Shut Up Bob. I know it is helping me in some ways but only sometimes. I hope this is something that resonates with others as well. To watch the podcast by Jay Shetty. He really does make sense.

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