must we talk so much?

August 28, 2025

In a world of constant noise, where does that leave the quiet ones?

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This is a love letter to all my fellow "quiet" friends. We're labeled as shy, awkward, anti-social, and quiet. Being quiet in a loud world, we're born into a prison where every day we battle to be more than we are. We’re supposed to be different. From the vantage point of our counterparts—the social butterflies, the talkers, and the loud—we are the weird ones.

I’m here to propose an additional perspective. What if we, the quiet ones, have never been the problem? Maybe we don't need to be louder. Maybe the world just needs a shift in perspective—that is, to see the power in silence.

silent killer

People are terrified of silence. Their self-hatred fills in the blanks. In every beat of silence, their mind worries and worries and worries. “They don’t like you!” it shouts. And well… it’s certainly a possibility—especially if you have a tendency of confining people into one-sided conversations, bereft of soundless moments.

Silence is a gift. There is an art to conversation, it’s a dance; and some people, well, they just really like the sound of their own voice. While in one ear, I can hear the plea for connection; in the other, I am exhausted and feel thoroughly used.

limitations of language

My love for silence lies in the limitations of language. As much as I adore the English language and am fascinated by language as a whole, I understand its limits.

Sometimes we are just supposed to feel. To choose somatic experience over intellectualization for a change. To choose silence over speaking. To be instead of do.

the call for quietude

I think overall this is a call for peace, for understanding. For the loud and talkative to gift us with moments of silence. To gift us with space to become comfortable and talk in our own time. To not prison us into pressures of being more than we are.