"Just relax man", "Calm down and start again", "Slow down dude" are just some things that we stutterers are told when we had a stutter moment. But is there any truth in this? Would this really help? A few days ago I was surfing the web and came across suggestions about relaxing before you think you would stutter. There are even breathing techniques that says that these work all the time if done properly. I was convinced and starting meditating on the issues that might trigger my stuttering side.

Having acquired this problem around my 20's I saw that stuttering fitted like a glove in my life. See, I am a quite anxious guy. Every task I am given I just want to finish it as quickly as possible. It does not have to be a complicated task but just common ones will do. For instance, if I am eating I eat fast and just want to wolf down the whole dish. I do not talk much or pause but just concentrate on the goal of eating. When blogging, if I do not get what I want from a design or if there is an error on my page, I begin to get anxious and I have to find the answer right in that moment and if not I get anxious to the point that it affects me. I could go on with many things I do at a fast pace like if it were a competition. So then stuttering just found a good host in me.

I heard that when we stutter we just have so many things to say and think just too fast that our mind goes faster than our articulation. I talked to my wife about it and shared my findings. Since then (last week) I have started to slow down on speaking. I have to concentrate because it is so difficult. Fluency is not pausing but I have to according to my conclusions and research. Well, it helped. I went shopping with my wife and spoke slower pausing and taking my time and the stuttering had reduced. Implementing this into my life will take time. There are no easy ways and I feel that I have to slow down not only in speaking but in many things in life. I do not have to portray things as challenges all the time. I have to enjoy sharing with others while eating and if I have problems in my web pages I should try fixing it with time and if not just be patient about it. Maybe then I will see a bigger change as a whole because stuttering takes in so many variables that it is puzzling.

Has slowing down reduced my stuttering? The answer is yes and no. Yes because of the points mentioned above but yesterday I woke up early and went upstairs and got into a conversation with my mother in law about my plans for the future. All of a sudden I felt I was in the stuttering mode and said to myself "Here is your chance to implement my strategy" One of the breathing technique says that you should relax and breathe normal and you should say only the first syllable while exhaling and then breathing again and deliver the rest. So for instance "hi my name is Joe" should be: Breathe, exhale saying "Hi" then breathe again and say "my name is Joe exhaling". I had my big change there but I could not say the first syllable. I took a big breath but nothing. I was just in one of those days and just went down to avoiding and keeping silence which really puts me down. But, what happened? I don't know. Anyway, I think it is start and will continue to see if slowing down will help. The problem is I tend to forget about it and just talk naturally which is fast and get out of line with my plan. I should also have to look into the breathing technique more and see what I am doing wrong. At any rate, slowing down seems logical and something that can help my stuttering and other issues in my life as well.