NSA Meeting Update - April 14, 2016

We had a great meeting discussion with 5 people present.  We started the meeting off with introductions but changed it up this time.  We had people ask questions about another and introduce them to the group along with their interest, travel likes and other related points of fact.

I would like to think that this exercise is useful since one has to ask and listen and second be able to have good eye contact and introduce that person to a room.  It's probably not a person who stutters does that often.

Tonight's topic discussion was Acceptance.   What does it me to say that a person accepts stuttering?  This is a complex question and perhaps is better understood with age.  With age it gives us confidence and wisdom.  It also brings with it a large laundry bag of failed situations that shape who we are.  However, it's father time that perhaps can allow us to come to deal with it and being able to deal with stuttering allows us a better chance to be OK that we stutter.   Perhaps, shifting the paradigm from a problem to a characteristic can make it easier.  We can tolerate it more so that it doesn't run our lives, we can like ourselves more and we accept that speech is fluid with life's stages.  The more pressure we put on ourselves to being fluent will create more struggle and that equals more trouble.  Finding a happy medium can reduce stress and pressure to preform and increase fluency.  The last stage once one finally accepts their stuttering, is understanding how to dictate the terms of stuttering and how to apply those in public.  

Last note, be positive, manage what you can control and don't beat yourself up.  

Thanks,

Matt

Next meeting is April 28, 2016 with Tom Granata