postr/StutterAugust 31, 2019

Can you make peace with the tricks and avoidances?

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Content

Can you make peace with the tricks and avoidances? Fellow stuttering individuals, I ask this question because I was thinking about it the other day. I am still at that point where I am trying to accept my stutter and just live my life. It occurred to me to ask myself: Why can't what I have or do be enough? Stuttering sucks and we all know that. We all do it: We have these little tricks we do to get through a stutter or a bad block. We'll keep pushing the sound out until we are blue in the face, we'll break eye contact because we feel embarrassed. We will substitute a word because it's easier to say. We will avoid certain words or sounds because they are just too exhausting to say. These are the tricks that we do among many others I'm sure. Everybody says we shouldn't avoid and we shouldn't substitute because it feeds into the fear, right? But what if there was no fear or embarrassment surrounding these tricks? For many of us, getting through a simple conversation can be hard which is why we use such tricks that we developed over time as a way to cope. I think most will agree that these tricks will at least provide temporary relief. Isn't that enough? If we make peace with ourselves that we do these tricks not out of fear but more so out of necessity to get through each day, can that be enough to move on with our life? Think about what I am saying here: If there is no fear or embarrassment but we just want to survive through each interaction, can these tricks really be considered bad? The fear is only there because we feel bad after the fact and have thoughts like "Can't believe I blocked there" or some other negative thoughts. If we don't feel bad, the fear doesn't get stronger. Just make peace that you will do these things when you need to. I am not doing this though it's something I have been thinking about. Anybody else feel or considered this?

Themes

Anticipation & AvoidanceIdentity & Disability

Subthemes

Avoidance & SubstitutionAcceptance & PrideAuthenticity vs. Masking