commentr/StutterMay 15, 2024

Content

Hi! So first of all, I completely understand what you are going through. I have been through this myself. When I was your age, I wanted nothing more than to remove myself of my stutter, and I would have done anything to achieve this. I spent days, weeks, months and years to find a so-called 'cure'. I fought tough and hard against my stutter for ages, only for it to win all the time. This made me feel extremely defeated and dissatisfied with life. However, I started to shift my perspective as I got older. So yes it is the same with me, sometimes it is not noticeable at all, and sometimes I'll will be stuttering on most sentences. With regarding to getting better at fluency, I am definitely a more fluent person now than I was years ago. My base level of fluency has improved drastically for sure. However, more so than that, I have seen improvements in my fears of speaking more than anything. I am no longer anywhere near as afraid of stuttering as I used to be, and it definitely does not stop me from doing the things I want to in life. I would say that is due more to the diminishing fear, rather than the increased fluency. Because of this, I no longer chase fluency anymore because I genuinely now believe it is a futile path for us stutterers. I have had some of the worst points in my life chasing fluency, yet also some of the best times of my life just existing without the fear of my stutter. I would argue chasing better communication skills is a much better path for us, as it was for me. You won't believe me when I tell you this, but I am generally quite content with myself right now. This is even though I still stutter. The reason for this is because I have gone through a process of dealing with the fears relating to it. I would argue that public speaking was the absolute main reason for my drop in fear of stuttering, and the corresponding increase in fluency. Public speaking taught me how to express myself in the most authentic way possible, that was true to my identity. I learned how to use body language, vocal variety, confidence, empathy and audience engagement; both on a stage, and off it too. That's the thing with public speaking, it seeps into all verbal communication parts of your life. As said in my above post, public speaking no doubt transformed my life as a stutterer for the better. That is one of the main reasons I coach it the way I do, I want everyone to have a piece of that freedom. That is regardless of whether they stutter or not, I feel like public speaking can teach us all so much.

Themes

Anticipation & AvoidanceCauses & VariabilityCoping & AdvocacyEmotional ExperienceIdentity & Disability

Subthemes

Avoidance & SubstitutionOverthinking & MonitoringPropositionality & WeightMindset shiftHope & MotivationAuthenticity vs. Masking