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From: Keith
Date: 04 Oct 2009
Time: 06:08:14 -0500
Remote Name: 81.103.154.64
Marija and Anita, Most of the article rang many bells in my experience of being a PWS. There are many expressions, 'feel the fear, but do it anyway' 'there is nothing to fear, but fear itself'. Also we are all born with the flight or fight instinct which helps to keep us away from harm. Like all other PWS I have seen the eyes of listeners, either 'glaze over' or turn 180 degrees from listening to puzzlement and then switching off. Anita, you dared us to tell our tale. How did I deal with those things? Until 2006, as best as I could, leaving other people to do the talking. From 2006 I mentally changed. Not in any specific order, but I learned about the Stuttering Iceberg; I examined myself and found I liked myself; I felt I did not need people to like me, but to understand what I said; I found a few tools to help me to speak which more ease which I used as I used a crutch after a hip operation; I used the tools to build up my self confidence in speaking so I started speaking more and enjoying it; I joined Toastmasters and have had a lot of fun, meeting people and crafting speeches; I concentrate on communication which is a balance of Body language, voice tone as well as words; I meditate to bring more calm and balance into my life. These and others are the various ways I have faced my fears linked around speaking. One of my biggest lessons was learned in Toastmasters. When I learned of the Stuttering Iceberg I knew that I had many of those emotions and I had linked them around my stuttering. At Toastmasters I found that many people in the world have the majority of those emotions, so it was normal to have them. Only a few were specifically related to stuttering. Anita, thanks for daring us. Hope this helps someone. Keith