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I hate this so much! I am what some would consider a textbook extrovert- I absolutely **LOVE** to talk. However, I have a terrible stutter. I’ve made a conscious effort to work on my speech and on talking more slowly but it’s hard when you get excited about a topic and stutter halfway through your though and those around you begin to ridicule you. It’s worse because I’m in Public Relations and am expected to talk in front of others often and feel that it hurts my credibility. I’ve often told my friends that I don’t mind their jokes but in reality most jokes are hurtful and I just don’t want to seem excessively sensitive about something that I can’t change or control. I truly want to be able to shrug it off and be able to laugh at myself but every time I stutter I feel as if nothing else about me matters and that people will label me as someone with zero confidence, terrible public speaking skills, and little intelligence. I **DREAD** speaking around strangers who’ve never heard my stutter because I don’t want them to see me as different. *end rant* What has helped you in the past? Do you start every conversation with, “I stutter, please excuse me”? tl;dr: I hate to stutter. It makes me feel incompetent. *HELP*