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Just Jay: A Short Intro I just wanted to introduce myself, I watched the King's Speech just now and felt compelled to find a subreddit. And if there wasn't one I was gonna make it. I'm glad I didn't have to do that. I'm 27, and have stuttered since I was little. It got really bad after my dad drunkenly put his arm through a half glass, half screen door and cut his arm open. I was about 3 and it's probably my earliest memory. It was also pretty bad after my mom passed away when I was 5. I was in speech therapy for the better part of my school years. After high school, I joined the Navy to be on submarines and do communications work. I noticed my speech slowly getting better as I started to feel more comfortable with myself. I had to work as a kitchen bitch for about 3 months for people I didn't respect (in the submarine world, we call it 'cranking'). This got my emotions up and for whatever reason it helped me to argue with them in the kitchen. After I was done cranking, I went to my division to learn my trade. One of the first things we learned was our radar detection system. Integral to ship's safety, I had one repetitive report to give every time. All I had to say was "No close contacts" over the announcing system. First time on the watch for real, and I totally biffed it. So much so that my department head came in and yelled at me. (he later apologized to my supervisor, not to me.. classy dude). Anyway, as time went on over the next few years I got a lot better. Meditation and other mindfulness practices for whatever reason helped me out a lot. I still have trouble public speaking, though my first speech in my college speech class I had no disfluencies at all (the rest weren't so awesome). Most people who meet me now wouldn't know I had a stutter unless I told them and often I don't.[edit: I don't avoid disfluency though, I take a deep breathe and insert natural pauses] I think another thing that helps me is that I put it in the past. I use words to put my stutter as a past me, not the current me. It's weird how it works but through the few pseudo-psychology books I've gotten into it's recommended and helps me. For instance, I never say I stutter, it's always I stuttered. If I'm being less fluent, I just call it a bad day. I know there's a ton of people less fluent than me. All I can hope is that you find the piece of mind I have. And for god's sake, stop caring what people think about you. Go out and be your own hero. Life's too short to be too embarrassed to speak. You have a voice.