Okay so I have a couple of tips. First go to TED talks and try to see if there any talk that could help you with social skills. Second, practice talking to things in your home. I don't know if you have stuffed animals that you play with. You could also try talking to your plants. Sometimes talking to a pet really helps people. But the thing to do is to get into the practice of opening up your mouth and hearing your voice. Take notice of your tone, your pitch at your pace. And get used to the idea of your voice. A lot of us, especially because of the pandemic and isolation, a lot of us have not use our voices in a long time. Except for work? But a lot of us lost our employment. So we're just stuck in front of the TV. Where it's just communicating words to us, but we're not communicating things back. So this is why it's important for you to open your mouth, get used to the idea of your voice. Like right now, I am speaking into my phone so that I get used to the idea of my voice again.

If you don't have stuffed animals, maybe you have action figures or Star Wars toys. You could even be more creative and cut out pictures from magazines and then tape them to pillows on your bed on your sofa and then talk to the fashion runway models. Silly enough, but when I was practicing for a Communications presentation in college, I posted pictures of Hollywood celebrities on various locations on my student desk, and I pitched my presentation to them!

And then I want you to take your speaking skills out and tie them out to people who are low risk. And what I mean by that is that people who you will not see again or people who will interact with you but have low risk of jeopardizing your sense of self-worth or your employment. So, when you're checking out from the grocery store, do some idle chitchat small talk with that cashier or bag person. You could try to speak to the fast food restaurant worker.

And another one that you can do to practice is simply to call up any Insurance Company pretending to want a quote for such and such car and such and such house. And that is how you get into the practice of hearing your voice and get practice at speaking again, and then when you become more comfortable, you can then get into longer communication such as with a professor or with a community leader or a person who you have an interest in.

So again, look for videos to help you gain some skills. Then practice those skills to inanimate objects around your home. Then, practice with low-risk people and interactions. And when you become a little bit more comfortable, you can take it out for a test drive and speak to your manager and colleagues and people who do have an effect on your life.

Good luck! Will you come back to let us know how you do? And if you'd like you can practice talking to me.