I had a really busy week last week. August is always busy at our office, what with back-to-school exams and sports physicals. At one point in the chaos, I had about ten minutes to sit at my desk amid the chart piles and computer screens. I had just started plotting a strategy of where to start, when one of the medical assistants walked past my office door, and asked , “Dr. LateBloomer, are you talkin’ to yourself?”

Honestly, the reality is that I am ALWAYS talking to myself. Sometimes the conversation is an outer manifestation of my inner monologue (which is admittedly usually not PG-rated, HA!), but more often I talk to myself when I’m trying to figure out a strategy, or talk myself through something unfamiliar. I also keep up an ongoing “patter” during an exam to help my little patients understand what I am doing and why. (The otoscope and speculum don’t seem so scary when I point out that it’s just a light to look for bunnies in your ears) 

So, given all that, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you when I admit that I talk myself through shooting stages, too. 

I do it in pistol classifier stages. “Okay, weak hand, ONE shot only … One shot…just one shot.”

But I really talk to myself constantly in 3 Gun. You can even hear me on videos, giving myself directions. “Safety on…. in the barrel… watch your 180… don’t clear the holster til you’re past the barrel…”

I never really thought of this as a problem. If it helps me figure out a tough stage or keep myself on track with detailed directions, then what’s the harm, right? That’s what I thought … until I went to Gunsite the other month.

It was pointed out to me during a simulator, that my verbal self-coaching could more or less give away my position – LOL. I had to laugh when they told me that. I mean, there I am, a middle aged pediatrician, stalking my way down a desert wash, looking for targets that were supposed to be a motorcycle gang attacking my family. I’ve never done anything like that before, so NATURALLY I was going to be talking myself through it. It’s just what I do. The “motorycle gang” could probably hear me stumbling over the rocks a hundred yards away anyway. Oh well. I guess I was never going to be a secret squirrel anyhow.

At least you’ll always be able to find me on the range. I’ll be the one standing on the firing line – mumbling to myself. 🙂