Think Twice, Speak Once

"Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything." (Proverbs 13:3) 

Everything?  Really?  Let's think about this, what can be ruined by opening your mouth?  Relationships.  Marriages.  Friendships.  Car rides.  Evening strolls with your honey.  A romantic dinner.  Even healthy conflict resolution can go south very quickly if one's mouth is moving too much (take my word on this one).

I don't know about you, but once I get warmed up, words continue being formed and escape from my mouth faster than I intend.  I often dismiss this "ability" as verbal processing, but God's suggestion is: keep your mouth shut (my paraphrase).  I think He'd also agree with my mom, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."  (if I remember correctly, mom said this more to me than she did my sisters)

Sometimes freedom of speech isn't the best freedom.
I want to experience the freedom that comes when silence is the wiser choice.
 

And so it begins....

Hi.  My name is Chelsea Bickerstaff and I am a verbal processor.  Whewww, I feel better. Now everyone knows; I think out loud.  Not that thinking out loud is a bad thing, but when I verbally vomit all over my husband (he gets the brunt of it, as with most things), something needs to change.  I need to process before I verbally process.  Which leads me to enter the world of blogging. (Plus, typing is so much faster than writing. Maybe that is why I don't consistently journal?)

When I ran this genius idea passed Lee, which is to "process" by writing THEN process with him after I've organized my thoughts (and considered the repercussions of what will come out of my mouth), he quickly said, "Yes, babe. I think that is a great idea!"  I sensed an air of excitement (or maybe hope) that my frustrations, joys, ramblings, and emotion-driven thoughts would be released into cyber blogging space, rather than onto him. Whatever his initial reaction, I had already decided to try my hand at blogging, I just needed to process and receive validation that my idea was a good one. :)

So...this is my first ever blog post.  Welcome and enjoy the ride!

PS: I love my husband very much and I am thankful that he supports this endeavor of mine.