UX Researcher (a lot of presentations)

UX Researcher (a lot of presentations) Hey everyone! I’m a UX researcher at a website redesign company. I have been a covert stutter my entire life. I am a former athlete with psychology bachelors and masters degrees. I just want to let you know that stuttering fucking blows. There have been so many times where I go home and wonder why God made me this way. Until today. I’ve been working at this company for 1.5 years. I’ve had a total of 6 presentations. The first one? Fucking brutal. Constant blocks. Especially on vowels, (especially E’s). I gave my 6th presentation this morning (2nd this week) and leading up to it I had no anxiety symptoms. No sweating, no nightmares, no shaking, no lump in the throat. That’s when it clicked to me. I still stutter periodically. It hasn’t gone away. But the amount of time and energy I spend caring about it has vanished. I’m just not in a place where I give fuck a what people think anymore. 75 percent of my stuttering came from anxiety I feel like. You have to have this mentality of not giving a fuck. It’s contagious. Most of us are extremely intelligent and quick witted. We have so much we want to say that it builds up and observe the world differently.. because we have to. We see the nuances in anything and everything. Don’t let the world dictate who you are because of how you speak. Treat your disability like how people treat obesity. Sure it catches one’s attention - but then you move on and don’t give it that much weight right? (Pun intended) I didn’t think I would be here. I still struggle sometimes. But don’t let yourself become the victim in your own story. Fight for fluency everyday. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose - but just know that you’ll be back for the fight same time again tomorrow. Love you all!