Is anyone else basically mute when alone or am I weird?

[WhyAmIMute98]

Is anyone else “mute”?

I’ve realised I never talk to myself. I don’t ever speak out loud, I rarely gasp or make noises out loud if I’m on my own. I can’t physically sing to myself, it makes me recoil and cringe. Not because I can’t sing; but I just make myself cringe.
I am genuinely mute when I’m alone. I’m so so far in my own shell. The thought of me talking out loud to myself makes me recoil and feel sick.

What is wrong with me? What do I do to overcome this??

I don't think that's weird at all. Having said that, right before seeing your thread I said out loud to myself "So boring!!" (I'm working from home on a particularly tedious task)

By definition you don't often see people when they're on their own so it's anyone's guess what's "normal"

I don't think it's something you need to really overcome is it?

Do you talk to yourself in your head and it's just that you don't talk out loud?

I sing but I don't talk to myself or make noises. I find I can't relate when I notice that people do talk to themselves or make noise... I was watching a TikTok of a woman's daily routine where she has cameras in all her rooms and she will be watching something on Netflix and she'll utter sentences about it to herself or make noises to herself and I just found that so odd.

I am ND so maybe it's to do with that. When I live alone, I could go days without uttering a single word.

I think it's the way you should be. If you were muttering to yourself I'd think you'd lost it

I talk out loud to myself a lot when I'm on my own.
In fact I'm probably the person I have my most interesting conversations with 😂
I think that's weirder.

Why do you think this is a problem?

I thought this was normal tbh. I'm basically mute when I'm by myself. Sometimes sing along to songs (never if there isn't music playing to drown me out though) but on most WFH days I'd guess the only words coming out of my mouth would be "oh for fuck's sake" every couple of hours (annoyance is the only emotion that breaks my silence).

I talk to my cats and my car when I'm alone, but that's it.

This is so not a problem to overcome OP!

Sounds normal to me. Do you want to be chatting away like you had an imaginary friend?

I suppose a bit of swearing in traffic is normal but I wouldn't fret about the lack of it. Talking is for communication, and you can presumably communicate with yourself in your head.

Is that weird?
Seems perfectly normal to me! I do the same.

And why would you want to "overcome" it? What possible benefit would there be to it?

If you did talk to yourself, hey, also fine.

But since it doesn't bother you, and there's no one else there, who on earth would you be trying to change for?!?

I talk to myself a lot. A lot. I also have full conversations with the cats. I'm not entirely sure you're the one with the problem in this scenario

If you don't feel the need to talk to yourself then don't. Why do you think it's necessary?

I talk to myself out loud constantly, not sure it matters either way

I'm mute when alone and wouldn't dream of talking out loud to... no one.

The only exception to this is humming in the shower

Perfectly normal imo. In the past I could go for days without uttering a single word, simply because I was WFH and living alone. I never speak out loud when alone. Or sing in the shower or anything like that. At the most i’d yawn or make a noise when stretching,

Now I have a dog and find myself chatting to him all day, telling him how he’s the goodest boy & so handsome! 😂

I talk to myself all the time. It's deliberate. After a fairly long solitary stretch - about a month, I think - I found I had uncontrollable verbal diarrhoea. I was having long chats at random people, even while they were trying to politely escape. It was embarrassing!

I knew I was going to be alone quite a bit in the future, so I fixed it by allowing myself to talk. When I have a pet I talk to them but it's really no different to conversing with myself, the TV, etc.

Why do you think you need to overcome it?

I very rarely say anything when I’m on my own. Might sing along to the radio in the car occasionally.

Sounds normal to me, but I'm very much the opposite.
I can hold full conversations with myself and have made some very important decisions in my life by talking them through with myself out loud.

I talk to things when I’m alone. Stuff like “Now don’t start that again” to my laptop, “Ah, there you are” to my hairbrush/my favourite spatula/keys, and “Hello. I’m not sure that’s the best idea” to the spider making a web between my desk lamp and my notebook (can’t be persuaded to live on my pot plants).

I sing along to the radio, say Hi to dogs in the woods, and also to the sheep in the field who are too far away to hear.

I’m not sure whether this is normal or not but I don’t care. My head is full of dialogue and songs anyway so some of it will inevitably slip out.

To those who live in silence, do you not narrate what you're doing? I'll go to the fridge "what shall I eat, what shall I eat? Why didn't I buy the ###? Cos you're an idiot. Lets have a cheese sandwich".

It's relentless and I don't think about it. I do it when the house isn't empty either.

Do you sing to music?

It's not a problem is it? I don't talk to myself out loud - I have a fairly continual internal monologue going on and I talk to the dog but I don't talk out loud to myself.

Pretty much by definition, a problem is something which is interfering with your ability to live the life you want or be happy. I can’t imagine why on earth not talking to yourself in private would meet that definition. Some people talk to themselves and some people don’t. For either group it’s just what comes naturally. If you feel you need to actively force yourself to talk to yourself or force yourself not to, that would be the problem.

I talk out loud to myself constantly, and sing, either a particular tune that has got into my head, or a continuous tuneless warble all the time. I know I am doing it and suspect I drive people I work with crazy. I don't think you have anything to worry about or anything to overcome. I, on the other hand,......

I don't talk to myself outside and think that's perfectly normal. Why do you think it isn't?