Imagine yourself in a classroom. You are sitting there, and the teacher asks a question only you know the answer to. You want to raise your hand and show everyone how smart you are. Then anxiety walks through the door. It threatens you. If you speak, you get made fun of, lose friends, and embarrass yourself. Now add that same feeling to athletics, sleepovers, and any other social situation. You try to talk, but it feels like a rock in your throat blocking the words from coming out. Well, having Selective Mutism (SM) feels like this every single day of your life. My name is Hayden Smalley, and I am sixteen years old. When I was two and a half years old, I was diagnosed with Selective Mutism. I am a sophomore in high school right now, and I am just now overcoming this struggle. I want to outgrow this and share my story with the world. I want to help other kids in my situation and not have to deal with it as long as I have. Okay, let me backtrack. Like I said previously, I was two and a half years old when I was diagnosed with Selective Mutism. My family noticed I wasn’t improving socially. I wasn’t acting like other kids my age. I was quiet in public, even around distant family members. People thought I was just shy. However, my mom wanted an answer. So she took me to the doctor, like any caring mom would do. That’s when they told me I had an anxiety disorder. My mom spent years researching this disorder. She couldn’t find that much due to the rarity of it. As I have grown up, I have learned that all of this has made me stronger. It tells me that I can do anything if I put the work in. School was and still is the biggest struggle of it all. I rarely ever talked to any of my classmates from kindergarten to now (tenth grade). So naturally, I got bullied. It got worse as I moved up through school. I was called names, pushed around, and left out. People saw me as the weird and shy kid. It is much more than just shyness, but they didn’t know that. Teachers are another problem in school. They single me out. They make me do projects by myself because I don’t talk. In the past few years, I have made progress by recording myself presenting and sending it to the teachers. Although a lot of teachers aren’t very nice about it, I have had a few great teachers. My freshman ELA teacher was the best ever. He included me and encouraged me through every up and down. I will always be grateful to that teacher. He taught me that not everyone is going to be nice to you, but there are good people out there. This has helped me push through everything and find the help I need and put the work in. It is all mental. If you can defeat the mental battle, you will be okay. The thing that has helped me gradually overcome this is God. I got closer with Him and I am a new person. My life has gotten so much better. With God, anything is possible. Even what you thought was impossible, like talking to people. If you set your mind to it and work hard, you will be able to overcome any situation.