How I Stopped People from Interrupting Me
Mon, Feb 2, 2009
Um…ya. That’s a trick question. Because the truth is, I can’t. Sorry!! None of us can.
But what we can do is change how we feel when someone interrupts us mid-sentence. And more importantly, what we think about ourselves after it’s happened.
***
When my friend interrupted me…
Last week I got interrupted by a close friend. It happens occasionally, and my usual reaction is to listen to my Inner Critic who says “its nothing, stop being so petty!”
So I had let this issue slide with my friend time and time again. I tried to convince myself that “it isn’t worth it, you have to act as if it doesn’t bother you and eventually it won’t bother you!”
I think the problem with that tactic is that this saying still holds true:
“What you resist persists.”
I’ve been resisting accepting that when my friend interrupts me while I’m in the middle of talking, it upsets me. A host of insecurities and angry thoughts bubbled up.
The writings on my wall…
“What I say isn’t worthy of her hearing! She’s cutting me off because she doesn’t feel I have anything important to say! Why doesn’t she just–get a dummy doll who will sit there silently and listen to her talk, but doesn’t say anything back?! Am I simply not worthy of being heard?? How can she be bored already, I only said 3 words so far! Maybe I should just, stop trying to express myself around her (it’s just not safe)…”
These are the writings on my wall that for years I didn’t confront.
The emotions behind this “my friend always interrupts me” trigger were all due to the limiting beliefs of my Inner Critic.
Until now…
I finally decided to surrender…
I got to work accepting that I felt marginalized, and that there were writings on my wall that never really benefited me. These limiting beliefs were what gave away my personal power and kept me feeling insecure about myself.
For years they served their purpose: To keep me feeling victimized and to prove that this world was an unfriendly place. But now I’ve recognized that these writings are not only false, they are painful to carry with me every time I find myself “getting interrupted” by someone.
It had been a few weeks since I last did an EFT session on myself…so I decided it was time for another one. The results of this EFT* session were so liberating and healing that I wanted to share how I did it with you.
*If doing EFT healing doesn’t resonate with you, that’s okay, you can still receive great benefits from writing out your limiting beliefs followed by positive affirmations the way I’ve outlined below.
How I let go of the negative writings on my wall…
Even if you don’t have a problem with people interrupting you while you’re talking, the script I used is also good for if you have a fear that what you want to say isn’t “good enough” or “isn’t safe” to express around certain people (feel free to tweak the phrases to suit your issues).
I started off with a few neutralizing statements. Here’s a piece of it:
“Even though my friend interrupts me, I’m not worthy of speaking, I deeply and completely love and accept myself…And I’m willing to feel worthy of speaking anyway.
Even though I just don’t have permission to speak, it’s not safe…I give myself permission and I’m willing to let go of needing other people to give me that permission.”
Then I had an all-out vent session and entertained my inner child. I let myself rant, whine, and complain…listening and validating that I felt hurt and slighted. (Whoo! That felt good 
)
The affirmations I used to rewrite my wall…
Then I proceeded to rewrite the writings on my wall by expanding my list of positive choices and affirmations. If you’d like to write some of your own, here’s a snippet (from my session) to get the ball rolling for you:
“I choose to let go of taking her interrupting me personally.
I’m willing to forgive her, and all the interrupters from my past.
I now allow myself to feel worthy of expressing myself verbally.
It’s safe for me to say what’s on my mind.
The only person that needs to validate me is me.
I’m willing to let go of my need for others to validate me for what I say.”
The results of my self-healing session…
After this self-healing session of rewriting my beliefs, I felt that I truly let go of my resentments in getting interrupted. I’ve noticed that when I get interrupted now, by anyone, I’m relaxed about it and know that eventually I’ll get to say what I meant to.
I also experienced something surprising from her end: Since rewriting my beliefs, she started to catch herself about to interrupt me on a few occasions.
That goes to show that changing your reality is an inside job. Before others change, you must let go of your own limiting beliefs about yourself and the world around you.
***
Have you ever been interrupted? How did you make peace with it?
Please share your story with us! And let me know what you think of this post by dropping a comment in the “Leave a Reply” box 
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Tags: affirmation for letting go, EFT, EFT script for speaking, Emotional Freedom Technique, getting interrupted when talking, how to change writings on my wall, how to stop taking things personally, letting go of limiting beliefs, limiting beliefs of inner critic, people interrupting when i'm talking, surrendering emotions, surrendering to feelings, what you resist persists, when someone interrupts you mid sentence, writings on your wall
It’s great that you take your intra-personal development seriously. I seldom face the problem that you faced. Maybe it’s because of the law of attraction, I usually meet nice communicators.
I think it’s good to try to shift the consciousness to other people (second person perception) and manifest polite behavior in them. That might influence how they treat us, to some extent.
EFT is a nice technique but I usually simplify it to tapping only to get rid of negativity quickly.
I want to thank you so much for putting your time and effort sharing your techniques and experience on my blog! I’m delighted to read your comments. They are like flowers at doorstep in the morning
*hugs*
@Relax,
That’s a great phrase to use “intrapersonal development”! I’ve received amazing benefits to doing internal work on myself, and it makes me a more independent and optimistic person
Our thoughts and reactions to things are the only things we can control, but sometimes by changing ourselves, others around us change in response–so it’s a bonus when it happens, but never the goal.
Ya, EFT is a nice quick fix and sometimes I use it when I can’t quite verbalize what I’m going through! It also taps into your subconscious mind, and that’s where if you want to break a stubborn habit or negative pattern, the real magic happens!
“Flowers at doorstep”–wow, thank you so much, but really your articles are engaging and memorable
Wow. Great post! I haven’t had the same specific issue of feeling hurt and invalidated when interrupted – but I do often feel the same way when someone criticizes (well meaning mostly) my work. I tend to get defensive and insecure about what I’m doing and the way I’m doing it, and this results in a mean backlash at the person involved (mostly just in hateful thought, although it has been occasionally hard to hide my emotion).
I love how you walk through your process of getting through these negative emotions. Its so comforting to know, that its okay to “rant, whine and complain”! I know that I don’t want feel so defensive when someone makes a comment… it means I am limiting my own possibilities for growth. I don’t want to resent the person making these comments, they have the right to say what they want to say. I want to learn not to take everything so personally. In that sense your affirmation is very helpful – even in my situation, so thank you!
Hi @Aditi,
It’s interesting how one of us can get hung up on a “pet peeve” and others have no problem with constantly getting interrupted. I’ve watched others take this friend’s interrupting and they seem to just roll with it and even laugh it off!
Most times criticism we receive about our work isn’t about us “not being enough” yet it becomes about that due to some childhood memory where we equated being a “good girl/boy” with being “good at making art” or “being quiet while mommy takes a nap.”
I’m glad you found the “walk through” helpful! And yes, “rant, whine and complain.” Don’t keep it bottled up! Releasing these emotions out on paper releases the power they held over us.
Your desire to observe your feelings and responses to others criticism takes courage; you’re doing awesome! I’m so happy you could apply the affirmations to your specific issues
Here’s to your sqooshing!