How to gain confidence and increase self-esteem
The majority of people who are fluent do not appreciate just how lucky they are, having a stutter affects a persons whole life and it
can massively erode one’s confidence.
When I had a stutter, the problem seemed to constantly be in the forefront of my mind. I would often find it difficult to get to sleep
at night due to the fact that my mind would find it virtually impossible to relax.
What fluent people would consider to be simple tasks were far from easy for me. I especially found it difficult to:
Answer the telephone
Make telephone calls
Introduce people
Speak to people I did not know
Speak to people in authority
Order items, for example drinks at a bar
Read out aloud
Tell a joke
Chat up a girl/woman
Finding it so hard to accomplish these tasks led me to becoming very low on confidence and also led me to feeling quite low and
depressed.
I so wanted to gain confidence and to achieve fluency, the two of which would probably go hand in hand.
I decided to fight this war on these two battle lines, firstly trying to develop techniques to overcome the stutter and secondly
working to become a more confident person.
This was not easy war to win and in the end it took me nearly a year to achieve a successful result for both goals.
|