What would you give ...

[warrick]

I have a question for you, and you need to be truly honest with yourself. What would you give to be rid of stuttering in your life. If you could take that 'magic pill' and suddenly stuttering became a distant memory.

What would you be prepared to give up, on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being absolutely nothing, and 10 meaning you would give it all up. Family, friends, car, house, the lot.

What about you?

[warrick]

I consider myself a 6. Fluency is something I am truly focused on, and not only do I believe it to be possible, but also my new purpose. I have stuttered all my life and have found ways to live with it like so many others. But now I have 3 young boys who all show signs of stuttering. I am aware that there is a better than average chance that they will simply grow out of it if their speech development is left to its own devices, but even so, there are so many others out there who may not be so lucky and will live a life living in shadows because human conversation is too painful. I now realise its not just about me. Answers about stuttering would help the lives of so many.

If your asking yourself, why is it only a 6 if he feels so strongly about it, its because I realise that in so many ways I have been blessed. I have health, a loving family, loyal friends I am proud of the person I have become. I would not give any of that up for anything.

Warrick

[Jason]

I would give nothing to be honest.

It would be nice not to stutter but I am more interested in accepting it as opposed to losing it all together. Don't get me wrong I want my fluency to improve but at the same time my speech currently isn't an issue which is getting in the way of me achieving what I want to achieve. Because of this I think it would be foolish of me to give an arm and leg for something that I am beginning to successfully live with.

[climberszen]

You know... I have thought about this question alot... and will be writing about it extensively in my personal blog (www.stutteringstories.com). Every stutter dreams of a magic pill that would result in him/her no longer stuttering. We all have this believe that we would suddenly become a gregarious person, the life of a party... sadly however that is a dream. I personally have come to realize that being a stutter is less about stuttering and more about one's personal psychology. We have grown up as a stutterer and act as one... if we instantly became fluent with a magic pill... we would still act as a stutterer.... sadly this learned behavior is the result of childhood experiences.... just as we learn to be a person and interact with a people.... My personal advice to any young stutterers that may read this is... "don't let the stuttering affect you.... don't be embarrassed..... don't hide.... at the end as an adult I have found people really don't care..... and I have done some pretty amazing things.... I have been an EMT, taught college classes, and give talks at national conventions..... what I ahve learned is people don't care.... sadly what I have not overcome is how I personally feel and how I perceive myself.....