Unmuted: A Quiet Story About Mental Health, Silence, and Finding One’s Voice

A personal essay on selective mutism, postpartum mental health, and reclaiming the courage to speak

🎧 Listen to the Podcast Episode

Before you read further, you may want to listen to Episode 1 of Unmuted — a spoken version of this story, shared in my own voice.

🎙️ Listen on Spotify:

This post expands on the reflections shared in the episode and offers space to pause, read, and return whenever you need quiet company.

Growing Up Quiet: When a Child Goes Unseen

The first time she stepped into her new, swanky office building, she felt her slender shoulders straighten with pride.
In that moment, she remembered her humble beginnings.

She used to be a little girl who rarely spoke.

She wasn’t shy.
She wasn’t stubborn.
She was simply… unseen.

She played with dolls by herself, trying not to disturb the world. And when someone noticed her — even to praise — she shrank back. Compliments felt frightening. Attention felt dangerous.

Making friends was hard. Her silence made her invisible — and sometimes, vulnerable. Others often assumed things about her, decided things for her, spoke over her.

From Childhood Silence to Inner Strength

Over time, something remarkable happened.

Inside her, a small voice began to whisper — first in dreams, then in thoughts, then in ideas. Those ideas became beliefs. Those beliefs slowly formed a will strong enough to act.

And so, the girl grew.

She travelled far.
She reached milestones no one expected.
She survived storms she never spoke about.

But her voice — her actual voice — remained trapped.

She could speak, technically.
Yet loud conversations still intimidated her. Social gatherings overwhelmed her. Her thoughts often stayed locked behind her lips.

Discovering My Voice as an Adult

One day, I noticed her trying to speak. She opened her mouth, said something softly — but her words never travelled far enough to be heard.

I reached out to her.

She told me she wished she had spoken freely while growing up. She wished her voice had been encouraged… celebrated.

That was the moment Unmuted was born.

Not to rewrite the past.
But to honour it.

Why Quiet Voices Matter

Stories like hers —
stories of quiet children, soft women, tender hearts —
often go unheard.

And yet, their perspectives are often the deepest.

Watch a group of children playing. There is almost always one child standing a little apart, quietly observing. That child sees everything. Notices what others miss. Feels what others rush past.

Maybe that child was you.
Maybe that child is someone you love.
Maybe you are simply someone who carries rich inner worlds without words.

This space is for you.

Writing as Survival: When Words Replace Speech

That little girl was me.

I achieved almost everything I set out to achieve. My will carried me forward when my voice could not. But I remained quiet — mostly.

My silence wasn’t empty.
It became a language of its own.

Writing became my way of speaking when speech failed me. Journaling led to reflection. Reflection led to a blog — Soulful. When my words began reaching others, something shifted. For the first time, I felt heard.

Postpartum Depression, Anxiety, and Losing My Voice Again

And then… life happened.

Motherhood arrived — beautiful and overwhelming. Postpartum depression followed quietly. Friendships faded. Darkness crept in. Writing, once my refuge, became painful. Words felt heavy. I stopped sharing.

By the time I moved to a new country, I felt lost again. Making friends felt difficult. So I withdrew — into survival, into parenting, into silence.

Mental Health Is Invisible — Until It Isn’t

An accident changed everything.

Physically minor.
Mentally devastating.

That cold September morning reminded me that the battles within can be far more dangerous than those outside. I realised how fragile the mind can be — and how desperately I needed healing.

That moment wasn’t my breaking.
It was my awakening.

What Mental Health Really Means

We understand physical health. Pain, fever, injury — we can see it.

But mental health?
It is our mind’s inner software. It shapes how we think, feel, cope, and connect.

Some people have visible physical challenges and sound minds. Others — like me — have healthy bodies and invisible mental struggles that make even simple tasks feel impossible.

Mine were silent… until they weren’t.

Why I Chose a Podcast Instead of Silence

This is not a mental health lecture. I am not an expert. I’ve grown from a sleeper to a seeker — not a teacher.

Mental well-being simply runs quietly through every story I tell.

In my healing journey, I sought help everywhere — doctors, counsellors, spiritual guides. But the real shift came when I confronted one truth:

Silence should be a choice.
Not a prison.

For the first time, I pushed myself to use the voice I had ignored for decades.

It was terrifying.
Racing heart. Weak legs. Choking throat.

And yet… I fell in love with my voice — however fragile it sounded.

What You’ll Find in Unmuted

This podcast is me keeping a promise:

to speak
to honour my story
to let the little girl inside me breathe freely

Unmuted is:

a home for quiet voices
a space where softness is strength
a reminder that gentle people carry deep power
a companion for those who feel different in a noisy world

A Poem for Those Who Speak Softly

— Rabindranath Tagore

If thou speakest not, I will fill my heart with thy silence and endure it…

The morning will surely come…

and thy voice pour down in golden streams breaking through the sky.

Then thy words will take wing in songs from every one of my birds' nests,

and thy melodies will break forth in flowers in all my forest groves.

You Are Not Alone

If something here resonated with you —
if you have ever struggled to speak,
or loved someone who did —
you are not alone.

Thank you for being here.
And thank you for letting quiet stories exist.

Until next time — be gentle with yourself.

And be Soulful

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