My Stuttering Life

Over my 43+ years of stuttering, I've learned many techniques to help with my fluency.  One of those techniques is talking in front of the mirror.  In this technique, I am cognizant of my facial expressions and through practice, I can improve my overall delivery.  I have practiced in front of the mirror from 30 mins to over an hour for days because you've heard the old saying, "Practice makes perf...

This episode is not about sports but more about job interviews.  If you are a PWS (person who stutters) or even a non-stutterer, we've all had those job interviews that were less than favorable.  In my experience, every job interview that I have crashed & burned, I learned from and applied that knowledge to the next interview.  My motto is that I'm going to fail myself to success.  Check out this...

Are you aware of the people around you?  I'm talking those individuals in your inner circle who are negative and drain your energy on a daily basis.  Plus, those people around you who don't want for you to succeed and they keep you at their level because it's where their comfort level is.  I call these two groups:  Vampires & Crabs In a Bucket.  If you surround yourself with positive people and le...

Today's podcast has a special guest, Rama Siva, who lives in the UK and has worked at the Prime Minister's Office in London, serving Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.  We discuss the origins of  his stutter, his family history, speech therapy, energy vampires, and his advice for  parents and teachers.  Mr. Siva is an inspiration to stutterers and non-stutterers stating that the key to success is believ...

We are all dealing with our own personal struggles on a daily basis.  You know my daily struggle is fluency and my special guest, Thomas Kenyon, explains his daily struggle with his thought processes.  We discuss his speech therapy in school, his coping strategies, and his successful podcast on Apple Itunes.  This podcast has many long pauses which will illustrate the struggle that my guest experi...

Today's podcast has a special guest, Hugo Torres, who is a freelance writer and a podcaster practicing in Civic Virtue.  We discuss our challenges in language and communication plus we dive into other topics such as the military, education and stereotypes.  For more information on Hugo Torres, you can find him on Twitter (@Hugoposts), Instagram (@HugoTorres), his blog (hugotorres.com/blog), and hi...

My featured guest is Carolyn Doucette who gives us the parent's perspective on stuttering.  In this podcast interview, she discusses her thoughts on her son's stutter, family history, speech therapy and advice for parents and teachers.  This was truly an informative and inspirational interview that will illustrate the support that is needed for anyone who stutters.  Thank you Carolyn for sharing y...

Today's podcast has a special guest, LeRon Barton,  who is a writer,  author, and Tedx speaker who is also a person who stutters.  We discuss the origins of his stutter, his family history, speech therapy, and his advice for parents and teachers.  Mr. Barton's positivity, courage and tenacity is a true inspiration to people who stutter and non stutterers.   For more information on LeRon Barton, hi...

Today's podcast has a special guest, Joni Glaze, who is an entrepreneur and a fellow network marketer.  As a person who stutters, I would not have imagined that I would be in network marketing given the stories from people in the industry talking about getting in front of people and giving  presentations.  Listen to how network marketing and personal development opened my eyes to amazing possibili...

Today's podcast has a special guest, Evan Sherman, who is a person who stutters and is also a licensed Speech Language Pathologist.   We discuss the origins of his stutter, family history, speech therapy, advice for parents/teacher and his successful practice as a SLP.  For more information on Evan Sherman, visit his website:  www.progressionspeechtherapy.com.  I would like to thank Mr. Evan Sherm...

As a person who stutters, I've experienced shame, guilt and constantly apologizing for my stutter.  This is my journey and I want to share it with you because if you are a PWS, you are not alone.  You've experienced this and maybe have no one to talk to about your experiences.  Well, let's help one another and navigate through this life with tenacity and positivity.  

As a person who stutters, the two tools that have been instrumental in my speech journey have been hypnosis and diaphragmatic breathing.   You know that when you have a block, your entire body is tensed and it may be that way for a quite a while.  Hypnosis taught me how to breathe into relaxation so that I can use this technique in my daily regimen.  Also, diaphragmatic breathing has taught to me...

When comparing yourself to others, the outcome is most always unfavorable.  When I was younger I compared myself to others because I did not like who I was because of my stutter.  Now that I'm a little older, somewhat wiser, I am happy with who I am.   It took me a long time to embrace my stutter but once I did, my whole life became a little brighter.  

Have you ever been told that you were faking something to get attention?

There is no magic pill to cure stuttering (sorry for that cold hard fact). However, there are speech therapies, devices, and drugs that may help with fluency. I have had amazing speech therapists help me along my journey along with hypnosis to assist me with fluency. There is a video on YouTube from Steve Harvey that had a guest who has a stutter and was asking for advice. Steve Harvey stated that...

Mel Robbins wrote an amazing book titled, "The 5 Second Rule", and it completely changed my life. Those difficult things we have to do in life can no longer control our actions. Just countdown 5-4-3-2-1-GO.

How do you handle emergency situations as a person who stutters? Are you able to call 9-1-1? Are you able to effectively direct emergency personnel to the situation? Thinking of this paralyzes me with such great fear and contemplating can I do this when the time comes. If you are a PWS (person who stutters), have you encountered an emergency situation and what was the outcome.

Joining the US Air Force was a goal of mine and my stutter was not going to get in the way! On this Veterans Day, I want to thank all the Veterans for everything they do to keep us safe! Happy Veterans Day! God Bless the USA and God Bless Our Military!

Voice activated technology is emerging and people who stutter are finding it difficult to adapt to this technology. I can the appreciate the ease of this technology but for me, I'll stick with typing everything out.

We've all had those minor bumps in the road that make your journey a little harder to reach. This is how I deal with setbacks as a person who stutters.

It's important to surround yourself with positive people who are going to lift you up and be there for you during the good times and bad.

We all have that negative voice inside of us telling us what we cannot do in this life. Find out how I silenced my negative voice.

Today's podcast has a special guest, Nic, who is a high school and also a person who stutters. We discuss the origins of his stutter, family history, speech therapy, high school life, advice for parents/teachers and his AWESOME YouTube Channel "Friday Nights with Nic". This young man is an inspiration to all living his best positive life. I encourage everyone to check out his YouTube Channel "Frid...

Vince Lombardi said, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing". We all want to win in life and in business. When I have a win, I feel invincible. In my daily battles as a stutterer, I have many epic failures but when I have a win, I CELEBRATE it. Leave me a comment on one of your daily wins.

If you are a PWS (person who stutters) then you know how difficult it is to say your name. If you are asked your name and you have a block, it doesn't help when the other person asks you, "Did you forget your name?" Listen for my response to that question in this episode.