Sometimes, I overthink things…

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope you’re all keeping well 🙂

When I first joined Jargon PR back in November 2022, I’ll be honest, I was very worried. It was my first full-time job since graduating from the University of Reading and it was my first time ever working in PR. We’re going to take a look at how my thoughts have changed over the last couple of months, as well as the lessons that I’ve learnt along the way in today’s blog!

Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!

Before I started, I was concerned that my stutter would limit my potential to interact fluently with colleagues, clients and the wider public. I was anxious that my differences were going to act as obstacles, preventing me from achieving what I wanted to do – it wasn’t just about a speech but also thoughts about how I would fit in as a person.

Looking back, I can see now that it was just a classic case of the “new job nerves”, but it did really worry me at the time. Despite meeting a couple of members of the team, who were all lovely, and my own belief in my professional ability, my subconscious mind started to overthink all of the possible “what if?” scenarios.

I’ve now been at Jargon for nearly 7 months (which have honestly flown by) and I realise that I couldn’t have been further from the truth. Personally, I feel like my stutter has been a massive asset for me, providing me with a fresh perspective and opinion on the world around us. Plus, everybody has been very understanding of my speech and the patience shown when I do stutter is fantastic.

What’s more, as my job involves a lot of speaking to people virtually, over the phone and in person, all of this additional practice has massively helped my speech to become a lot more fluent.

I feel after finishing up at university and thinking about entering the working world, that initial fear of what it is going to be like can be a little overwhelming. If I took the time out to reflect and ponder over things in a realistic way, I would have probably seen past a lot of these perceived obstacles a lot faster than I did. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, it’s more a lesson that I’ll take with me through the rest of my life 🙂

If this process has taught me anything, it’s to not let your own personal obstacles prevent you from achieving what you want to achieve in life.

That’s all for today’s blog, what do you think? What’s one obstacle that you are proud to have overcome in life? What’s the biggest lesson that you have learnt from starting something new in life?

Be sure to let me know your thoughts and answers to the above questions 🙌

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a lovely day!