I did not speak in my first years in school. I think I did not feel I should engage in conversation at school because I feared the reaction of people...probably from abuse experiences. I was an observer. I had similar anger that no one helped most of my childhood. I did have a 5th grade teacher that helped and I wish I had more support like her. I learned that I had to stop observing and being so passive.

I think it takes pushing through situations and those uncomfortable conversations over and over to get more at ease. You might be over aware of your words and how artificial they sound, but eventually you feel you own your words. That has been my experience.