This middle school student has been really wanting to change his stutters into easier, less embarrassing, less frustrating stutters, but he’s been struggling to do so. When he's talking to his friends and feels one coming on, he panics, and then feels like he won’t be able to change it. Often he will choose not to join the conversation and make a joke even though he really wants to. He gets frustrated with himself, with his stutter. But he doesn’t give up.
During a session he stated, “I don’t think it’s possible to change my stutter”. I asked him how true that felt for him. His response was, “70% true”.
I think we can all agree that if you believe that strongly that you won’t be able to do something, then guess what? You won’t be able to make that change. So the first step is to shift that belief and we did a bit of work on it that session.
The next week, he came to me and said he had a good week. He said that he accepted his speech more, stating, “I accept my stutter more. I sound how I sound. Deal with it. I’m ok with how I sound.” He also shared that he had joked around with friends about his stutter and that he had never done that before and that it felt really good.
His belief about not being able to change his stutter was still up at a 70%, but his acceptance of his speech had shifted, and that’s huge. So we get to work on shifting this self-limiting belief.
So, you know this is a success story, so you can probably guess what happened. By the end of the session, his belief that he couldn’t change his stutter improved. He said he only believed it was 50% - 60% true now. A shift of even 2% - 5% can be huge, so a shift of 10% - 20% in one sessions is massive! There's more work to do on this, but progress is clearly being made.
He’s shifting that self-limiting belief into a self-empowering belief.
For many of us who stutter this is an important first step, shifting those unhelpful self-limiting beliefs. This is the work that I was put on this planet to do. I get such joy and satisfaction bearing witness to these transformations.
If you or someone you know struggles with self-limiting beliefs related to stuttering. Please contact me about scheduling a free consult to learn how you can Stand Up to Your Stutter.