[ Contents ]
From: Maria
Date: 10/6/03
Time: 1:56:41 PM
Remote Name: 195.29.98.197
Listening to Valentina and Terry, a whole new world is opening to me. I thought my life was tough, but this sounds like even a bigger nightmare. I think that when you are covert you convince your brain that you will be fluent whenever it takes. Your brain will be stressed out and going 300 mph to avoid a stutter, but you'll manage it (most of the time) and come out from the conversation as a winner. Brain picks up the message: "Well done - again! We've fooled them!" When you allow yourself to stutter, your brain is in less stress but as Valentina said, stress has moved to the body. Brain notices something unusual is happening with the body and it picks up the tension and suddenly you lose your self-esteem that was once saying "good, we've fooled them all". Now it's the time to fight inside, with yourself, not against outside people. Valentina, I think what you've done is that you've let stuttering feel more important now in your life than it was before. Stuttering feeds on the attention it gets. The more you think of it, the more powerful it is in your eyes and that's how the spiral starts leading downwards. Stop. Consider this a phase and not a constant. You're doing so well in college, I am so proud of you. Don't forget that you are a brave girl, an enthusiastic girl, active, loving, warm, perspective. Don't let stuttering twist your view of who you are and what you carry in you, and that is just what it's trying to do now. It's all going to be alright!!! Love, Maria