This post was shaped within the Quiet Connections community. Some pieces are written anonymously; others come together through gentle collaboration. Either way, they come from lived experiences and quiet reflections from quieteers like you.
Our articles are here to offer understanding and encouragement to quieteers finding their way with confidence, connection, or a sense of belonging. If something here feels familiar or reassuring, you're warmly welcome to read more, join our Facebook Community or come along to a Meet Up whenever you're ready.
Communication Skills for Career Success Ask an employer from any sector what they look for in new recruits and it’s not long before that broadly defined powerhouse of a soft skill – communication – springs to mind. Not surprising, really. Effective communication means a potential hire has the interpersonal and persuasion skills to explain ideas…
Recognising it’s time to get support At first I didn’t realise what was happening. But once the tears came, I knew I needed help. I felt like I couldn’t go out – not even to pick up my daughter from school. I was feeling completely worthless and like I was a failure. A friend would take…
![The Social Anxiety Report: Key Insights [2018]](https://quietconnections.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Social-Anxiety-Report-768x512.jpg)
The 2018 Knowledge Exchange Report produced by Unlocking Potential in collaboration with Quiet Connections provides a comprehensive analysis of social anxiety (and related conditions), including its prevalence and impacts, at a local, regional and national level. This article summarises some of the most important and surprising aspects of the report, shedding light on this often-misunderstood…
In a sense, this is a ‘Tale of Two Cities’ or, more accurately, two countries; actually three if you count this one. This short tale is about asking for help when you don’t think you need it. It is a tale of contradictions. In 2011 I moved, with my wife and two daughters, from a…
My mantra through school and university life was ‘avoid all eye contact with the teacher and they likely won’t pick on you to answer a question’. It wasn’t that I was a bad student, in fact I was always among the ones topping the class. It’s just that my confidence just seemed to end beyond…
I know so many people who have had experience of not feeling good enough and plagued with self-doubt and suffering low self-esteem as a result. Due to poor manual dexterity due to the Functional Neurological Disorder I suffer from, I thought I would put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and share my own…
I was bullied at school and had no one. I felt so anxious that I started refusing to go to School. I even suffered with psychosis for a while. My Mum tried to support me as best she could, but didn’t know how to. But my doctor contacted the school which lead to me being educated at Education…
Not good enough Growing up, I was shadowed by a constant cloud of uneasiness in social settings. I felt I just wasn’t good enough. This caused me to be less productive than I could be, constantly living beneath my potential. I can’t pinpoint exactly when I got bitten by the ‘shyness bug’, but I have…
Since a young age I believed that I was not smart enough. This belief followed me for a long time. I feared I was different from the others as I felt it took me a long time to learn new things. Last year, I discovered the reason for this is that I am dyslexic and…
I have been ‘quiet’ all my life. Sitting in a room full of others taking turns reading out loud from a book we were studying at that time. It’s my turn to read and my hearts racing, my heads feeling light and I want to hide away. I was the one who dreaded school presentations;…
You know that feeling when you are having a moment to think? You’re sat looking at something you love, you breathe deep and a sense of calm follows. This is what I have with my great love of nature. This love has expanded as I have grown older, developed a business within nature and in…
University life is often romanticised as a period of freedom, self-discovery, and academic pursuit. However, for many students, it can also be a time of significant stress and anxiety. A report by Graham Russell and Steve Shaw from Plymouth University delves into the impact of social anxiety on student well-being and learning, shedding light on…