Accentuate the positive

We need to concentrate on our assets and develop those things about us that we can change while we are working on making our speech better. Stopping or lessening stuttering won't happen overnight. It is something that requires work and persistance. At the same time, we will become a better person if we work on our relationships with others, treating others kindly (whether or not they are kind to us), developing varied interests so we have things to talk about as well as different things to do, involve others in our plans, and do these things without hiding in the shadows trying to keep people from hearing us stutter. If we concentrate on the stuttering and spend all of our time trying not to stutter, the stuttering will only get worse. If we concentrate on other things and let the stuttering happen while we are working on it by going to speech therapy or working on techniques on our own, things will be much better. Those stutterers who accept themselves as they are and enjoy life while they stutter are much better off than those who restrict their talking because they are afraid to stutter, who restrict their invitations to be with others because they don't want to stutter, etc.