Stopping Talking to People

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I have never much liked talking, and now I often find myself too tired to talk, so I just don't respond to people sometimes. I know it's awkward and maybe upsets people, especially people who know that I can talk, but I do it anyways. Sometimes when someone says "hi," I wave instead of speaking. I did this to one guy and overheard him telling someone that I never talk, but I don't care.

Sometimes I feel that I can talk, but I don't have the energy to speak loudly enough to be heard, so I don't bother. People have told me to speak more loudly all my life, and I'm sick of it. I keep my mouth shut rather than be asked to repeat myself. It's less awkward to say nothing from the beginning than to say say, be asked to repeat it, and then stay silent.

It's also less awkward to pretend to not hear people; deafness or just not hearing are more socially acceptable than not responding.

So I want to ask whether people who have been verbal their whole lives have ever just stopped talking, and what happened.

Throughout my life, I have verbally responded when I didn't want to, and I have found that this is not worth the trouble. I do not want to talk to most of the people who speak to me, and we never have any interesting conversation, so I have no reason to bother. I used to care more about hurting people's feelings, but people who feel entitled to my attention and are too ignorant to consider the many reasons why a person may not speak, I don't care about those people so much anymore. I have tired myself out and not benefited much from pretending to be normal, and I'm sick of it.

Lately I talk less and less. At work I have my own office and work mostly alone on projects, so it can be 1-2 weeks without anything more than "hello". At shops I wear my noise cancelling headphones so the clerks stopped the usual "do you have loyalty card", "cash or card". I don't have any friends and contact with my sister and parents is far apart. How do I feel about it? I just got used to it out of necesity and now get pissed if someone tires to talk to me.

Anyone else?

Well, I can't say I've been verbal most of my life and suddenly stopped; Rather, I've generally always kind of just hated talking.
I just really don't like it. I can never seem to say what I truly mean accurately. I stumble over my words and sound like an idiot. I have no charisma. I have a difficult time following conversation and never know the correct time to speak, and never know what to say anyway. I'd rather stay silent and in the background for my own convenience. Yet at the same time i really hate being this way. I wish I had charisma.
Everything about it is just too exhausting for me, but that may also be a combination of social rules that I also struggle with (like how every single coworker expects you to say "hello" to them first and if you don't you're the bad guy... I'll say hello if someone says it to me but being expected to say it every single day multiple times a day stresses me out, plus I struggle with eye contact, but everyone just thinks I'm a jerk.)
It's also why I have no friends. Any chance I've ever had at friendship I've squandered by being avoidant. I like being alone but hate being lonely.

I have selective mutism, sometimes I am literally incapable of forcing my vocal cords into action, or I can get some words out but can't speak loudly/clearly enough to be understood (and no one at all believes that at times I literally can't speak because at other times I speak just fine. They accuse me of just not wanting to speak, even as I am trying to explain the situation, and nothing I do or say can change their minds.). Even when I can speak, it usually takes a lot of effort. I've been thinking about trying to just use a text-to-speech app on my phone, and gestures when I either can't come up with words or when it would be easier than text-to-speech. I haven't actually done it, though, because my parents strongly discourage it and I am not looking forward to their reaction if I ever decide to actually do that.

I've never stopped talking but I understand how much working can take out of you. You might only have so much to go around and if you are going to function well in one area you need to drain energies from somewhere else. For ages I barely spoke after work for an hour or so to recuperate from the day - a benefit of taking the bus, you have a long time cushion to unwind and get some fresh air too. If you need extra time you can lie and say you had to stay late or say traffic was bad.
I don't try to fit in (mask) anymore like I used to but work suffered and I'm starting over again from the bottom in a new field. But my kids are grown up now and I don't need much so it's ok. I feel better about myself now, and am definitely happier than I was. But I'm pretty sure the change has confused a lot of people, much lower wages and all.