It’s important to remember that old habits make it hard to think clearly. Their inertia is very strong. Sometimes it may feel like you don’t deserve kindness, that you’re guilty of something, that you’re worse than others. But this is just an illusion, a harmful habit. The real task is to stop focusing on negative emotions and thoughts. Our confidence always depends on where we place our attention. If we focus on the idea that we’re unworthy, we feel worse. But if we learn to notice that we are not less than others — and sometimes even better and smarter — then our confidence slowly grows. Since childhood, we get used to focusing on our failures and weaknesses. This becomes a kind of defense mechanism: we fear the pain repeating, so we keep replaying bad thoughts in our heads. But in doing so, we trap ourselves in anxiety and discouragement. One skill I developed was the ability to consciously stop my inner dialogue. No matter what happened — embarrassment, failure, or unpleasant memories — I trained myself to switch my focus to something positive. I discovered that this can actually be trained. Over time, it became easier, and now I simply don’t dwell on the negative. After stuttering or speaking in public, it’s easy to spend hours replaying the mistakes, feeling ashamed, wishing it hadn’t happened. I used to do the same. But then I noticed: there were also moments when I didn’t stutter. I started celebrating those little victories. Yes, I still stuttered, but I stopped fixating on failures and began to focus on successes. For example, if I stuttered a little less today than yesterday — that was progress. Even if it was just one percent less, it was still an improvement. And if this continued, in a year it could be 50% better, and in two years maybe 90% better. That’s when I first saw a real perspective for change. The key was to be happy even about tiny improvements. Of course, some days are worse, when the stuttering gets stronger. But I no longer make a tragedy out of it. Instead, I remind myself: the focus should always stay on the small victories. They are what give strength to move forward.