I am feeling stutter despair, and I just got asked to do a televised presentation. I don't know what to do.
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I am feeling stutter despair, and I just got asked to do a televised presentation. I don't know what to do. Since COVID-19 began my mental health has been steadily declining. Being removed from everyone takes away the benefits the socializing was having on my stutter. With zoom calls now, I find myself reacting the same as I would via phone which has always been impacted by my stutter. My stuttering has increased this last year and it's made me more anxious/depressed. It's gotten to a point where I avoid speaking during meetings. Last week I had to give a Zoom presentation, and I prepared my notes, slides, and practiced my presentation a couple of times. Despite that, my 6-minute presentation turned into 15-minutes cause I stuttered OVER EVERY GOD DAMN WORD. I had been working on this project for 6 months and knew the content super well, but my stutter just obliterated me. My confidence crashed and I am becoming increasingly terrified to do any sort of Zoom presentation. Now I'm told I will need to do a live, televised presentation in a few weeks and I'm freaking out. How the heck do you guys accept your stutter? I'm at a point where I know it affects others' perspectives of me and it bothers me. I know I know my job, have great ideas, and hustle, but my stutter always gets in the way and it's killing me. I'm getting close to quitting, but I don't want my stutter to win.