[ Contents | Search | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Joe Mirly
Date: 12 Oct 2005
Time: 12:10:21 -0500
Remote Name: 131.107.0.104
Hi Kjerstine - Thanks for the kind comments. I thought a lot about how I wanted to answer your question. I think there are two points that I'd like to talk about. I had a harder time addressing the emotional aspects of my stuttering by choosing to ignore it - or really by not accepting who I was. It really didn't have a direct impact on my ability to control the physical aspects of my stuttering. One caveat however, I think it did affect the amount and/or severity of my secondary behaviors while I was stuttering. Once I embraced my stuttering and accepted myself - to the point where I was open and honest with myself and others about how I was feeling about myself and my speech - the stress went way down. Then everything started coming together at a rapid pace. My secondaries went way down, and I was stuttering much more easily. I developed a good deal of fluency (for me) once I took the [acceptance] pressure off of myself. So it really wasn't a direct matter of ignoring my stuttering making it difficult to control my speech - but the influence that the emotional/acceptance has on the physical aspects of my stuttering. Did that last sentance make sense? Please let me know if you'd like to dig into this deeper, I'd be more than happy to expand on these thoughts. Thanks! Joe