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Tuesday Transformations

International Stuttering Awareness Day Posted on by
My journey from a challenged young women who stuttered to an empowered women who happens to stutter has been transformative.
The biggest change over the years was developing compassion for myself. The opposite of compassion is harshness. I understood that pain was inevitable but suffering was optional.  I became gentle with myself and brought kindness to my thought process.
There was not one act or lesson that brought me to having compassion for myself. It has been a cumulative process.  A few of these are:
1) Writing a daily gratitude list
2) growing together with other people who stutter.  My friendships with my co-authors span 20 years.
2) having friends and family who truly care about me
3) having a spiritual practice, including yoga and meditation
4) Involved in my life – enjoyment of sports, music, reading, hiking and photography
5) learning how to be an effective communicator while stuttering
6) having career and life goals
4) seeking counseling to treat my emotional response to stuttering
I wish you a fabulous fall season. I wish you all the best on your journey as a person who stutters or someone who cares for a person who stutters.
Nora O’Connor
nora_elizabeth_roger_friendsNora, Elizabeth and Roger at Friends convention for young people who stutter in Chicago, IL (2014)
nora_and_jeff
Elizabeth and Jeff (2014)

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Comments

Tuesday Transformations — 4 Comments

  1. Nora,

    Thank you for sharing the experience of compassion for yourself. It hit home in a way that it reminded me that I generally think of compassion for myself last and other first. It’s always a lesson and you have reminded me to pause for myself.

    Thank you,

    Elizabeth Kapstein, NYC

  2. Thank you Nora! My take-away is remembering that stuttering is a choice. I am currently doing research about resilience- the ability to overcome a hardship and change the outcome. While I may suffer, I’m changing how it impacts my life- from sadness to strength.
    Anrazos!

  3. Dear Nora-

    Thank you for this post. You have spoken with me about being compassionate with myself and others, and how these go hand in hand. At times I still feel self-critical when my speech is not fluent. To take a moment for self-care can help so much.

    Jeff

  4. Thank you Nora,you are a role model for me.

    My name is Hella , I’m from East Africa , Ethiopia, I’m 29 years old. It was not easy for me to get any group who can talk about stuttering in my country or on internet but luckily today i got this conference website and i joined, i’m happy that i’m not alone. I also stutter and it was hard for me at school, college and specially at work place and in my social life, but I still believe that I can do and achieve many things in my life.

    The hardest part for me is that people don’t understand what stuttering is.

    Thank you!
    Hella Dawit,
    Addis Ababa,
    Ethiopia

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