commentr/StutterAugust 4, 2024

Content

Sure, there's gotta be several ways to do this but I'll go into specifics: I will drive to a semi-empty parking lot so my family couldn't hear me talking. Then I set up my phone in the car with the front camera facing me (I could see myself this way). And I started talking, just speaking whatever was on my mind at the moment. In the first video I was addressing a fake public, like making a vlog, I would talk about stuttering, about the specific instances when I stutter the most and ended by saying: "there's gotta be a solution to this thing and I will not rest until I find it" lol I was motivated and positive about the whole exercise. The last video I made wasn't really addressing anyone it was just me ranting about a guy at work I didn't like because he would talk too much, then I moved to share a story about forgetting my mask and getting these looks (during covid), then about my niece misbehaving and how I felt like I was being an ass to her. I would try to shoot for 10 minutes but there were times I will do this before my shift so I only have a few minutes to spare so there seems to be an average of 6:30 in the 39 videos I took in total. I did it for about 8 months, and I have about 8 videos per month at the beginning, then I went down to 2 or 3. I guess I kinda lost interest because by the end I felt like I could do it without any struggle and it was probably time to move out of my comfort zone a little bit more. Lastly I gotta add that English is not my first language so I was also doing this as a way to practice it, but I realized that it impacted my fluency positively, probably there's also a therapeutic effect of letting out thoughts about anything. All of this for just 7 minutes seems like a really good deal so I totally recommend it.

Themes

Anticipation & AvoidanceCommunity & SupportIdentity & Disability

Subthemes

Avoidance & SubstitutionPersonal StoriesAuthenticity vs. Masking