Hi, my name is Adam and I am 21 years old. I am extremely happy to be writing this success story because it feels like I really accomplished something important in my life that I truly worked hard for that wasn’t lifting weights or running a far distance in a short period of time or reading a hard book.
My speech anxiety was such a barrier in my life that I couldn’t do any of the things I loved to do anymore and I slipped into a downward spiral of depression and mostly anxiety. I have had depression twice in my life and most notably severe anxiety over a 6 month period in the past year including being given 3 different types of anxiety medication. I have been in the program for 2 months and have seen my anxiety subside a significant amount but still other personal anxieties creep into my life of course such as social anxiety but I am a work in progress. And finally, speech has always been a problem of mine especially the fact that every time I stuttered or blocked my mental state would proportionally decline. Since joining this program I have learned ways to avoid stutter/blocks and so as a result my mental health has improved triumphantly.
For my case, the most important consequence of taking this program is the effect it had on my mental health. Reading aloud became enjoyable and I looked forward to it every morning. It would start my mornings and my speech off right and seemed to elevate my speech and even some fears for the rest of the day. Now I should note that I was probably a situational stutterer meaning I would block on a fixed word rather than repeat or be completely silent and I bobbled on 10% of my words. Suffering from severe anxiety and speech anxiety I thought about my speech 99% of the day and imagined so many different scenarios of how I would fail to speak. Now I think about my speech 1% of the day and I haven’t blocked in 2 months. I read my autosuggestions aloud every morning and visualize which speaking situation I will be in for that week. I still have residual fears lingering but that is completely natural; that is, fear takes a while to die. My Coach Leah advises me that, as I continue to avoid appearing speech disabled and the more that I gradually increase my speaking under pressure, I will become more comfortable speaking.
From taking this program my anxiety has dropped significantly. Now that I have cured it is time to keep refining my speech while simultaneously healing the whole person. Now that I am not depressed or have anxiety 24/7 I can do the things I love to do again: read, exercise, and continuous self-improvement. I am still young so self-improvement is a big part of my life and the speech program was the first step. Being more fluent will help in every aspect of my life regarding communication. I can say that I certainly don’t speak perfectly, but no one does. I can say that I am extremely proud of myself for completing the program and I don’t plan on stopping it any time soon!
I want to give a ton of thanks to Coach Leah and to Speech Anxiety Cures. My advice to other PWS is to study Lee’s book and join SAC. It’s a great community of ex-stutterers that help PWS. At SAC you get all of Lee’s books and video courses, over 1,000 coaching videos, forums and more. The speech club is fantastic and every week we hear more success stories and fascinating discussions of speech and life in general. This program worked for me and many others. For your sake I hope that you’ll take advantage of it. As I wrote to Coach Lee, you are inspirational and have truly changed my life. Now it is up to me to keep improving.
So, yes, this program worked great for me and many others I’ve met at SAC. For your sake, I hope that you’ll take advantage of it.
“A MESSAGE OF GRATITUDE” was the title to today’s email from Adam, 21, Canada: He wrote:
“You have helped me in ways that no one ever has. I was a terrified kid when I joined your SAC’s program. I was having anxiety with my heart pounding from the moment I woke up until I went to bed for SIX MONTHS all related to speech and anxiety. Now that I don’t obsess about speech 99% of the day, I have the time to untangle all of my stuttering presuppositions about the world.
“I was in a very, very dark place for about 2 full years which has definitely wreaked havoc on my body’s equilibrium and now I find myself working my first full time job as a purchasing clerk where I make calls that go out and answer ones that come in, saying my name every time. If you told me before I took your speech program I would be in this position I would have laughed with sincere cynicism about how that would NEVER happen as long as I stutter.
“I could send you a million reasons you are a visionary in the stuttering field but for your time, as you are a busy man, I will simply say what was the tipping point in this success. So for one it was the speech program. I learned the crutches that work for me and rarely do they fail me. When they do fail me I take it as my responsibility for not using a crutch to its completion. Another and most recent which I am grateful to Leah my speech coach was she said not to think about small incidences. I took the meaning of this to be more accepting of small incidences because everyone stutters and bobbles their speech. My boss today even said “See you were worried about your speech but I haven’t noticed a single thing” which was very reassuring.
“So, Leah and the whole SAC program were a HUGE contributor to my success. I wanted to say from the bottom of my heart that I am grateful for your wisdom and visionary teachings. I wouldn’t be in the position I am today if it wasn’t for your crutches and I am eternally grateful. My next step in life is to continue my journey of fluency and worry less about the small incidences. This will lead me to a more meaningful and competent life that I have always dreamed of. You have truly, TRULY helped my mental health in all of this and once again, I am sincerely grateful. Thanks and as always stay safe.”
ADAM, Ontario, Canada, February 2021