Speaking into the mic

There’s a lot going on in this picture. There’s the microphone connecting me to listeners all over Rhode Island, the headphones that make me hear every aspect (and flaw) in my voice, and there’s a rubber band on my wrist.

That rubber band is worth talking about for a moment.

That little rubber band is simple, but incredibly effective. I’ve used it for years to help me get rid of ‘bad thoughts.’

Whenever I drift into negative territory, where I start using bad words against myself, I snap that rubber band. That prods my subconscious to stop what it’s doing and pay attention to the moment. Years ago, when trying to rid myself of panic, I figured; ‘My body wants to reject any type of pain. If I connect the bad thoughts with the pain it might just work.’

So, every single time I had any negative ‘what if’ or ‘yes, but…’ thoughts, I would snap the band. Strangely, when I first started out it happened the most in the shower. Maybe it’s because I was alone with only my thoughts, and they would spiral out of control. It went from snapping this band 2-3 thousand times a day to hardly wearing it anymore.

It worked incredibly well, and I still use it to this day.