Overcoming Stuttering Self-Stigma
What is stuttering acceptance?
“Acceptance” is kind of a weird word, so it’s best to start by defining the word itself. How do I overcome the problem of stuttering?
If you’ve been seeing it as the problem for decades, it’s going to take awhile to unlearn. Today I’m offering 4 ideas for places to start.
1) Have or get a support system - I’ll be detailing this another day, but it’s necessary to know who you can trust to understand you.
2) Keep dreaming - when you imagined that perfect, fluent life, take a look at those other qualities you suddenly possess. The reality is waking up fluent tomorrow wouldn’t turn you into that person. And you don’t need fluency to become that person.
3) Celebrate every win. No win is too small. Did you raise your hand in class even though it was terrifying and you’re still shaking hours later? THAT IS AMAZING. Celebrate yourself. Tell someone. Be proud.
4) Forgive yourself. You won’t always ‘feel’ empowered. You will have days that you aren’t ‘proud’ of yourselves. You’ll have seasons that make you feel like you’re “backsliding” - but that’s part of the journey. Keep going, and forgive yourself for not being perfect.
Celebrate your wins here if you’d like! 🎉 and what do you think of my 2013 poem? I can’t believe that was nearly exactly 10 years ago. 😳😳 What a decade it’s been.
Original Comments
@westutter - Love the encouragement to become all the things PWS *think* that perfect fluency will bring them. We can be everything we want AND not have perfectly fluent speech 👏
@steff_ann5 - One of the first questions I ask people I get to serve. ❤️
@talkingtownbooks - The entire post is wonderful, but this poem is so powerful. Thank you so much for sharing your journey. ❤️
