For reference, I grew up in the 80’s in “nice” town in CT and I was a shy girl, so that may explain some differences? Honestly, it makes me furious that I’ve learned how to “speak” again, and so many others are still suffering. I wonder if someone had reached out to me before my 40’s, would my life be better? (Note - it’s not great. At all). But, I’ve been *much* less fearful of speaking for the last 2 years, and that makes a huge difference. So…I implore you to take it slow! When you are alone, just start by saying a sentence with a brief single voluntary repetition. “Hello, w-w-what do you want?” Build from there as you can tolerate it. And absolutely reach out through DM or whatever! It’s hard, but I really think there’s potential for progress to be made for you.