Why I'm Thankful That I Stutter

Over the years while family and friends gathered at the Thanksgiving dinner table with roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing and other delectables still warm on the plates, we'd share with each other what we're thankful for. Normally, it's friends, family, a new job, an award recently won, a roof over our head and food on the table. I never thought I'd be thankful that I stutter. Stuttering was always considered a flaw. It was something that I had to live with for the rest of my life. Something that could be fixed -- maybe -- but would take years of effort. Everyone stutters at some point or another but for me it happened more often than I'd like and at times there was nothing I could do to fix it. For so many years I've despised stuttering. It's hard to describe being furious with something that's not tangible. There's no physical manifestation of a stutter. You can't even see it in writing unless it's intentionally s-s-supposed to be there. Some days I wouldn't say anything to contribute to a conversation because it just wasn't worth it to mispronounce a word or fumble over a sentence and then have to repeat it, sometimes twice. It also hadn't been worth it to see that whatever I'd contribute to a conversation would lose it's meaning because of the stutter. They'd no longer hear the opinion, or explanation. The stutter would be paramount, my thoughts tossed to the wayside. I'd see the furrowed brows, the vacant expression in...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news