Soulful

Most people think selective mutism is a childhood disorder — something a shy child eventually “outgrows.” I used to think that too. Until I realised I was living with its echo well into adulthood. Selective mutism doesn’t always vanish. Sometimes it evolves. Sometimes it becomes quieter, harder to recognise, easier to hide — especially when you learn to build a life around speaking as little as possible. As adults, we carry these silences into workplaces, relationships, and moments where our voice matters most. And because there is so little awareness, people assume we’re uninterested, unconfident, passive, or disengaged. They see the silence but never the storm behind it. The Adult Version No One Describes Adult selective mutism doesn’t look like the dramatic freeze-ups we imagine. Often, it’s much subtler: Saying only the bare minimum in meetings even when your mind is overflowing with ideas. Practising sentences in your head but never speaking them out loud. Feeling your...

Labels, Silence, and the Story I Was Telling Myself Before you read further, you may want to listen to Episode 2 of Unmuted —   I Thought I Was an Introvert — Then I Learned the Name for My Silence 🎙️ 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. “Hey… you’ve put the wrong label on this.”  my friend pointed to the glass jar she was holding.  It was salt. Not sugar. A harmless mistake—but imagine if she’d added it to her cup of tea? Sometimes, a label seems harmless… until it changes the entire taste of something. Martina Navratilova, my favourite tennis player, once said: “Labels are for filing. Labels are for clothing. Labels are not for people.” And I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Because labels don’t just describe us. Sometimes, they decide how the world sees us. And worse—how we see ourselves. Ironically, it was a label that once helped me make...