The only way through (What changed the game for me)

The only way through (What changed the game for me) Disclaimer: everyone’s experience is different, there is no guarantee what works for one works for all. I’ve stuttered my entire life, always thought it was just gonna go away, tried many different treatments, never really lasted any longer than a month. By the time I was 22 I was badly dis-fluent, terrified of entering the working world/adult society and it was eating me away inside. Fortunately I received some tough love and realised 1. It was never going to magically go away like it can for some people and 2. I wanted to be better but never once truly committed to doing anything about it. This needed to change. I have since been in speech therapy for 2 years and it has changed my life. Although I am very much still a work in progress and I’m not fluent, I tend to be about an 8/10 fluency-wise almost consistently, sometimes better and on the odd day slightly worse. These are the things I’ve learnt over this period. 1. You have to put the work in, we didn’t receive the gift of fluent speech sadly, we have to earn it like any other skill. 2. Speech therapy may not guarantee fluency, but the control and consistency it offers can take a lot of anxiety away from talking. It gives you a tool box of techniques that allow you to move through blocks much quicker, so even if you’re stuttering you can drift through your speech and avoid that nasty build up of stress when a block lasts too long. 3. You can privately practice the various methods speech therapy teaches you as my times as you want but if you don’t go out and practice the tough situations (shops, talking in big groups, dates, phone calls etc) you won’t break the psychological triggers that cause just as much dis-fluency as what is biologically causing us to stutter. 4. You have to become as numb as you can to social anxiety. I think we’ve all felt like a fool for stuttering in front of people we don’t know well, it’s painful for us, but if you can do it so many times you become numb to it, you’re moving in the right direction. 5. So so so many people in this world could care less if we stutter or not, the world is full of good people that would love nothing more than to be our friend/partner/work colleague. 6. If people have a problem with your stutter/don’t give you the time/attention required, you don’t need them in your life. They don’t deserve our company and the unique view on life only we can offer them. 7. Bad periods will still come and go but the highs are higher and the lows won’t be as low. I hope this provides any help/encouragement to anyone needing some.