Constant internal dialogue - is this normal?

[Sadilicious]

I have had the day off today, and spent the day clearing the garden, tidying up etc, and realised that as I was working away, I was rehearsing over and over again a conversation/argument I may have with a friend of mine. It went on for hours. So much so that I ended up having to put on audio book to drown it out.

If I don't have anything to go over in my head, I invent other worrying scenarios and start overthinking them too. To the outside world I appear quite cheerful and sociable, but inside I just go over and over interactions ad nauseam.

Is this normal? How do I stop?

Normal for me. It's just something for my brain to focus on I guess.

Same.

its fucking annoying

This is me too. I overthink everything!

I do it to, doesn't everyone???

It is annoying - why can't my mind work so hard on something positive!

Same. All day every day

Most people do this and it’s uncommon not too. Though I asked dh and apparently he doesn’t experience this - weirdo!

Yep me too I think this is why some people listen to music while they do stuff. I find gardening is one of the worst things for it but decorating comes a close second.

all of the time...like my dad and his mother before him etc etc I have an unquiet mind. Arguements, fights, altercations, whole scripts...

as Mark Twain quipped "I've lived through some terrible things, some of which actually happened".

If you like French movies, I can recommend a wonderful and quirky one called Everyone Loves Jeanette. It reminds me very much of your post.

Sometimes I actually shout out loud to tell my brain to behave. In the lav at HQ today whilst on a training course my mind just wouldn't stop so I shouted at it. "BOLLOCKS...JUST BLOODY STOP". Of course when I left the lav there was a queue all looking at me with interest

My mind does it, sometimes positive things, sometimes nonsense!

Yes, all the time. I call it Busy Brain. It's tiresome.

All the time, it's so bad when I'm trying to sleep

I was diagnosed with rumination a few years back I think mostly caused by trauma. It's just the way my mind deals with and processes situations I'm dealing with. At times I find it very difficult to cope with it is worse when I'm low or under stress.

I thought this was entirely normal. Do people without an internal dialogue walk around with completely blank minds?

Wow a blank mind , that would be bliss to me. my mind is so loud .

with me, you either get distracted and focus on another task, or sometimes its just there in the mind, personally its more habit now and overtime its one method of considering different points of x strategy.
ive had the ability for years on and off, its puzzling at times as to why it happens

I imagine myself being interviewed on TV about things I'm never ever going to be interviewed on TV about (even though my hot takes are really quite insightful, if you ask me). I can’t stop.

Apparently many people don't have an internal monologue - weirdos - it must be bliss. https://www.iflscience.com/people-with-no-internal-monologue-explain-what-its-like-in-their-head-57739

Oh yes this is very familiar to me. Sometimes - like you today- it’s negative rumination, an inability to stop obsessing over a problem. Sometimes it can be positive and creative and cathartic.

Contrary to this thread I don’t actually think everyone’s like this though. DP certainly not.

I find after exercise- or after sex!!!- is the time I come closest to having a quiet mind… trouble is I don’t do enough of it…of either!

I do scenarios all the time. It can be exhausting though.
I listened to a podcast about procrastination recently. Apparently those who play out a scene in their head get as much satisfaction as actually doing the task, so will often put off the real thing. It probably explains why I’m not a “go-getter”. 🤣

You could try mediating?
It's really hard for me to quieten my mind so I try and distract instead, however if someone says or does something that upsets me I can ruminate over it for hours.

This doesn’t happen to me at all! I can’t imagine what it’s like!

I once asked my dh what he thinks about in idle moments and he said "nothing". In fact, he couldn't understand what either dd or I were talking about when we described what an internal monologue was. It appears that his brain is in either 'doing something and thinking about doing it' mode, or 'stop'.