Great post! I'm certain the stutter community can learn from how you outgrew stuttering. Would you like to create another post with a short and clear strategy? This is my attempt to write the first concept of your strategy (from what you've shared online): # Strategy: **Stages:** * Stage 1: Acceptance: acknowledge our stutter state and fluent state. Learn that both stuttering and fluency are not a problem or bad/good \[normalize fluency\] * Stage 2: Make it a habit to: A) let go of the stutter state and, B) reinforce the fluent state **Strategy during a stutter:** *If you stutter, then:* * backtrack a few words to re-enter the fluency state * interrupt yourself when doing negative reinforcement * if you experience a setback with this strategy, then let go of your new lack of confidence. Don't perceive it as a setback **Definition of the fluency state:** *Don't do negative reinforcement:* * don't dwell on unproductive thoughts and feelings: lingering fear, the doubt that you can get fluent again, the disappointment that it feels out of your control, difficulties and hopelessness * don't think, feel and behave like a person that stutters, for example, people who stutter sometimes ask: 'Why did I stutter just now?' * stop categorizing good and bad days * learn that there is no need to fight and struggle anymore. Don't try or put effort into speaking * don't hope that you'll get fluent later on (don't be in the future, rather be in the here and now) \[hope creates doubt\] * think and really feel that there is nothing to worry about. Being nervous or excited shouldn't compound fluency * don't conditionally wire yourself to do negative reinforcement, because this will evoke trauma/panic which evokes the associated muscle memory * dissociate or distance yourself from unproductive thoughts and feelings. Stop linking thoughts and feelings to stuttering * once you stop playing tug of war with your stutter mental state, you start to conceptualize the fluent mental state and it becomes clearer in your mind and more robust in your habitual response *Do positive reinforcement: \[placebo-effect\] \[confidence\]* * be excited to talk about something * the worry about saying a feared word is compensated by the placebo effect * tell myself that 'I can always take a breath' * develop a mindset whereby you switch your focus on: what to say and non-stutter topics * you don't think about walking, so also don't think about talking * find a commonality in stuttering and every other situation in life * speak everywhere * prove to yourself that you can go through difficulty. Build a mentality that you can really reign it in when you stutter * reinforce this comfortable feeling * learn to be interested in the fluent state * your body remembers how to speak fluently. Apply this default confidence and muscle memory. So, you don't have to hold on to anxiety * listen to and really experience your calm voice and trust in your instinct * take all the time you need, to confirm to yourself, that you can speak with the fluent mental state * focus on confidence that you can do it * change the pace to what you are comfortable with * gain confidence: "I know I can say the feared word" and "I can just say it", just like how non-stutterers think. Align yourself with a non-stutterer even if you are susceptable. During a stutter or anticipatory fear, try to remember how a non-stutterer goes about it. If you know that you can say it, continue speaking * close your eyes and imagine that you are speaking from the perspective of a family member who doesn't stutter. Now you know how a non-stutterer feels when speaking fluently. Always feel this fluency feeling when you speak from now on * everyone has inner struggles and worries about themselves, so, don't fear or avoid difficulty * negative feelings make negative into positive * there are always people who care for disabled people, so, there is no need to panic or hold on to anxiety **Definition of letting go:** * let everything go and 'sigh' to release your pent-up energy * don't care anymore about negative reinforcement