Is stuttering a blessing in disguise?

[Gábor]

Many PWSS (including Lee) told that stuttering was a blessing in his or her life. Others people (mostly PWS) become agitated and angry just by hearing this comment.

What do you think about this? Is stuttering (and of course beating it) really can be a life-changing experience which enriches our lives and makes us a better person?

[Anonymous]

Gabor,

I used to get frustrated as well. I did not like hearing that what I perceived as a disability could in fact be the greatest blessing in my life. In fact, I thought it was quite patronizing.

Then I realized that Lee used to stutter, so in no way would he try to patronize a PWS/PWSS. What he means is that the mental grit and discipline it takes to overcome stuttering is LEARNED. When Lee told me how to cure my stuttering, I thought it is going to take a lot of work and might not even be possible. Was I prepared to give up hours of my time and focus, giving my everything to overcome the biggest obstacle I had ever faced in my life?

The answer was of course yes, as I have not stuttered in 3 and a half years. It is all because I woke up every day and refused to use excuses to get out of doing what I needed to do. As the days passed, I started realizing how powerful I am. When I self-cured, I realized that I achieved something that most people would say is IMPOSSIBLE to achieve.

What this means is that whenever I now face an obstacle in life, I NEVER back down. I think back to those 3 months when I gave it my all and realize that NOTHING can be harder than beating stuttering. I truly believe that I now have the confidence to overcome anything in life, there is just absolutely nothing that I would deem as too “hard” or “impossible” to overcome, because 3 and a half years ago, I believed that it was impossible to stop stuttering, and look at how that turned out.

[Javier]

Hi Gábor,
Tasneem is very right. This program requires a lot of discipline and patience. I was a severe stutterer (you can actually find my coaching sessions with Lee when I was a PWS in the video library of this website and check it yourself), and I managed to become a PWSS in around 8 months. 8 months of reading aloud 1h/day, of doing auto-suggestions/self-hypnosis, of using the Crutches. I didn’t give up. And now I am a much more determined, patient, hard-working person. But thanks to mind training I have become a much more loving person. I am able to control what goes on in my mind. I am able to reject all the negativity that used to be in my mind, and make sure it never returns. I know how to reject it. And if it wasn’t for this program (and therefore stuttering), I strongly doubt I would be like this. Yes, it is true that I have suffered a lot during my childhood and teens, and I can’t even wish that to my worst enemy, but on the other hand I’m grateful for having these tools and becoming the person I am today.

It took me 2 years to realise about this. It is not easy, and you don’t usually come to this conclusion very quickly, as you can see. But I agree with Lee’s affirmation: stuttering can actually be a blessing.

[Gábor]

Thanks for the replies! I agree with you, especially about building self-discipline and growing as a person by overcoming an “impossible” obstacle. I don’t consider myself frustrated anymore, I think I’ve managed to move on from that negative headspace.

I discovered another useful thing about stuttering (or any other disabilities): the people who really matter in your life won’t look down on you and feel superior just because you stutter. It’s a great test whether the other person has a kind spirit and if not, maybe that person has no place in my life.

[Javier]

You’re right Gábor. And it is great to see that you’ve gotten rid of the frustration. There’s no need to have those feelings, they don’t do us any good. You can stop stuttering, just like many others have done. Keep working on it.
Have you attended to any of our weekly meetings, the speech club, on Saturdays?: https://worldstopstuttering.org/speech-club/
You will meet with PWS and PWSS, and you can hear their stories, talk to them. You can attend as a listener if you don’t want to talk. It’s very motivational, and fun.

[Anonymous]

Gabor, I would not be too hard on people who “feel superior” to you just because they do not stutter. It is, unfortunately, ignorance coupled with an unconscious bias on their part. As a society, people who stutter are viewed as less smart than their peers.

It is up to us to show the world that not only are we just as smart as our non-stuttering peers but that we have learned how to become the boss of our minds. Sadly, this is something many fluent people will never achieve as their fluency does not require them to.

[Gábor]

Thanks for the invite, Javier, I’ve missed the speech club last week but I’ve listened the recording.

I agree, Tasneem, stuttering is still a mysterious thing for most non-stuttering people, so they can be insensitive and ignorant from time to time.

[Author]

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