[Kaz]

Originally posted by 250: dont worry brother guess what? ppl have more dark (maybe nastier) secrets than we do yes, i understand that even thinking of talking gives you goose, but guess what? that is VERY good because you can start by just thinking of it in your brain, picture this scene: for example, there is someone you really wanted to talk to, she is your schoolmate, and you never had chance to talk to her Kaz (walk to her and start) "hi, how are you today?" Lisa (pretend that to be her name) "oh not bad, yourself?" (it would be beter if she says 'my life is miserable' LOL) Kaz "i am not bad, you ready for final?" Lisa "oh i really hope i do, i have been studying so hard for it" Kaz "yeah, me too, so which part do you find most difficult" ... ... what you do is, re-play this scene over and over in your head, until you get used to the nervesness, and when you can relax and play it with yourself. then, go to her. for the first time, you might not be able to say anything, you might just walk by, smile and say hi, the conversation might not even go the way as you planned. i said this many times, but i will say it again:" whoever you talk to, if you ever plan to do it, DON'T run away" and also remember, those who MIGHT laugh at you have might have worse problems than you do. last bit is my own experience: I found it very harmful to run away from a situation. for example, if i think my new roommate is cool, and i want to talk to him, then my thought goes "what if he laughs at me, what if he thinks he lives with crazy people... " you know what the subconcious message is? you are unconciously thinking: "I want to talk to him, i have to, i want to communicate..." this contradiction made stutters so stressful and nervess to even open their mouth. and when i am in this situation, i will talk. no matter how long ppl must wait, and how embarressed i might become. if i run away once, i will learn to run away again and again, then there will be no end of pain and fear. and what is so good about it? all my friends are NICE people who do not see my problem as my flaw, but they see me as what person I am. they accept me as who i am, not shutting me out because I am a guy who cannot speak "normally" that is the reward of courage, that is the wind that blows away sand and leaves gold. those friends we make and will make are the true friends for life. we are blessed [This message has been edited by 250 (edited 08-23-2001).] [This message has been edited by 250 (edited 08-23-2001).]

thanks 250
Ill try it but it will take some time. Maybe we should open a new thread for the stutterers in this forum (are there any others? If yes please say something) because this is getting off the subject and it might be boring to non-stutterers who cannot understand the inherent fear of speech that comes with stuttering, at least to all stutterers i know it does. Sorry about taking up so much thread space Larry.