Sweeney’s Stuttering Update – April 2021

April is going to be coming to a close in just under a weeks time, and in saying that, I feel like now is a great time to give you all Sweeney’s Stuttering Update for April 2021! I have found that over the last couple of years, I have been going on quite a journey with my speech and my Stutter, and I thought, why not bring all of you along with me!

So without further ado, let’s take a look at my update for this month!

Hello & Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!

I have had a Stutter for as long as I can remember, and it is pretty safe to say that it has played a very large role in my life. When I was growing up, I used to feel ashamed and embarrassed about my speech, but not anymore. You see, over the last couple of months/years, I have been making a real big effort to try and change my perspective of Stuttering. I’ll be the first to say that it has not been an easy mindset-shift, but is one that I am continually working on!

When I was younger, I used to think that there would just be a time when I would simply stop Stuttering, or that there would be some magical solution which would be discovered, which could simply ‘cure’ my speech, but I knew deep down, that that was not me being realistic, I was letting my mind run away from me, and it was not doing me any good.

What I do now is visualise my Stutter as a journey. I am on a journey to improve my speech fluency, and to decrease the part that my Stutter plays in my life When I was originally writing this blog, I was going to write “to reduce the ‘influence’ that my Stutter has had on my life”, but on second reading, I’ll tell you for why…

Even if there a day, somewhere down the line, where I no longer have a ‘bad Stutter’, I still do not want to forget all of the things I have learnt on this journey. Regardless of if those things were ‘good’ or ‘bad’, they were still all lessons at the end of the day, lessons which have helped make me a better person overall, and I wouldn’t change that for the world.

What’s been happening with my Stutter this month then?

In all honesty, over the last couple of weeks, my Stutter and the fluency that I have in my speech have been getting a lot better. I created a brand new ‘Stuttering Solution’ a couple of months back, and I have found that it has started to greatly pay off recently. It’s not just this new “Stuttering Solution” that has helped me though, there’s a whole heap of reasons and factors which have been influencing my speech over these last 12 months.

Lockdown Restrictions

Lockdown restrictions in the United Kingdom have finally started to ease. Although we are still only in the early days, it is really nice to see some form of normality begin to resurface into our lives, and a sense on hope is starting to grow. We still do have a long way to go, but I, for one, am very glad to see that there is a finish-line in the distance, and hopefully it will not be too far away.

You may be thinking “what does this have to do with your Stutter?”, and the short answer is “a lot”. Stutters are greatly influenced by your environment. If you are in a calmer and more relaxed surrounding, you are less likely to Stutter than if you were in a very tense and high-pressured scenario, for instance.

Lockdown has affected each and every one of us in it’s own way, and for a lot of people, it caused them to feel a lot more stressed and drained. Both of those things can be a very bad combination for a Stutterer, and can cause them to lose their fluency in their speech, so to see progress being made is a great thing for me.

Warmer Weather

Recent weeks have seen the weather get a lot warmer, for us here in the Swansea Valley’s. While you may not think that there is a direct correlation between Stuttering and the weather, I have found, through personal experience, that there is to a certain extent, and it is again to do with the environment that you are in.

When it is sunny outside and the weather is warmer, people are usually much happier and relaxed. This can really help Stutterers to let go of some of their worries, and to speak more clearly as a result. Plus you tend to find that as people are ‘happier’, they are usually a lot more patient, which does go a very long way.

Summary

There we have it, as we come to the end of another month this year, there are a lot of positives surrounding e and my speech. I still have a long way to go on this journey, that’s for sure, but I’ll get there at some point, I’ve got faith. I still cannot believe that time is going so fast this year, before we know it, it’ll be time for May’s Sweeney’s Stuttering Update!

Thank you all for reading today’s blog! What do you think? How much of a part do you think the surrounding environment plays in a Stutter? How much do you know about Stuttering? Would you like to see more blogs like this up on the page? Have you got an idea for a blog that you would like to see me write about?

Be sure to let me know your answers to the above questions, and any other thoughts or queries that you may have, either through our Facebook page, or in the comment section below!

Thank you all for reading and I hope you have a great weekend!