Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Feeling like a broken toy

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

As I have mentioned before in a previous blog post, I struggle with stut-stut-stuttering.


Super Girl


Recently, my stuttering started up again. My stuttering is stress-related and I believe it started again after my vacation job at a shoe shop. The job was stressful in its own way, with a boss who was very demanding and she worked on every wrong nerve there is.

I hate it when I stutter (well, who doesn't?), because people sometimes lack patience when I start to stutter and will lose interest in what I'm about to say. Sometimes I want to tell people something, but decide against it, because I stutter. I REALLY HATE TO STUTTER! I feel like a broken toy.

Every rose has its thorn. Mine is stuttering. I once met this beautiful girl, but she was like drop-dead-gorgeous and she had the best personality anyone could ask for, but her thorn was that her IQ was so low, she struggled to pass in school. She is an inspiration to me, because she now owns her own beauty salon and she is doing well for herself.

Every time, I start stuttering again, I try to think of everything my speech therapists have taught me. Yes, it works sometimes, but mostly I have to take a deep breath and try again.

There are different types of stuttering. Some people stutter on sounds, some on words and like me, on sentences. Yes, a person can stutter on sentences. I'm one of those.

There are also different triggers for stuttering. Mine is stress-related and will come and go. Other people stutter permanently.

It is not easy to be a stutterer, but everyone has to embrace their thorn and make it part of their self-confidence. I am Super Girl. Nothing will get me down, not even my stuttering.

What is your thorn?


3 comments:

Unknown said...

My thorn is also stuttering so I know exactly how you feel, you are not alone. The secret is you have to tell people you are a stutterer, just take your time. People will understand, just make eye contact with them and tell them. If I feel people are getting impatient then my stutter comes back but I stop immediately then I cancel that experience out and I start over again. Yes, it's hard being a stutterer but once you get control of it, it becomes easier. Good luck :^)

Karen at MomAgain@40 said...

Most people don't even notice it when you stutter. Just keep on smiling and keep on going!

Unknown said...

Yes, but most people want to improve their speech, just ask all the thousands of people who are part of the McGuire Program. But I will keep on smiling and improving my speech as I keep on going.