A little setback.

As I'm writing this, I don't even know how to put everything I feel into words. I don't know how to put all of these emotions into one good blogpost. But that's exactly what I'm going to attempt. 

I've said it in my last post, I have been under a lot of stress. Sadly enough, that hasn't changed. It has only become worse. Work is very busy and I feel like I try so hard but I can't seem to get anything done. Ever felt like that? Like you have been working hard but not getting anything done? No? Well maybe that's just me then.

So these last few weeks have been a challenge. I was not in the mood to even deal with my stutter anymore. I didn't want to think about it or work on it. I didn't want to give it any attention anymore. I wanted it to shut up and be gone. I didn't want to do my excercises. I was done with it.

Lucky enough I have a therapist who understands me. During my last session we talked about it and she understood everything that I was trying to make clear. And that is not easy because sometimes I don't even understand what I'm trying to say. I felt like I shouldn't complain but at the same time all I want to do is complain. Leen is a savior. For real. I have no idea what I would do without her. 
After that session I felt a bit better and friday was actually a good day. 

Now on to this week. Where do I start? It has been a complete disaster. It has gotten to the point where I can't even get any further than 'hello' on the telephone. 
Why? Probably stress and the fact that I'm doubting myself again. 
I can't seem to shake feeling bad about it. I try so hard to keep positive but I can't. I was doing so well and now it feels like my hard work was all for nothing.
It really feels like your heart is sinking into your shoes. For the first time in a long time I felt powerless and nervous in the office. 

Right now I think I just can't accept that I'm having a setback. I was doing so good and I was so happy with all of the progress that I made. 
But at the same time I also know that sometimes you need a setback to see exactly how far you have come. 

So the question I'm asking myself right now is 'how can I handle this?'. How do I handle this in a way that I just move on and try to get back to where I was? 
At this point, I don't know. But I do know that I have worked too hard to just let this get me down. 

Things like this happen. Stutterer or no stutterer, sometimes life gets that little bit harder. And we either handle it or we give up. 
I think what bothered me the most was the fact that I felt like I couldn't even talk to anyone about it because I don't want to complain. Why should I right? Everything else is going great. But if I feel bad than I can talk about it. If you feel like something is bothering you than it's your right to talk about and share how you feel. We shouldn't be afraid or ashamed about that. 

Monday is a new start, a new week. And we will see how it goes. I will keep you posted. 
Thank you for dealing with my ranting posts :-)

Have a good weekend everyone!
Let's take these 2 days to relax.


love,
Natasja 

Let's rewind!

It has been quiet on my blog for a couple of weeks. The reason behind that is the fact that I was going to be alone at the office for about 12 days. I wanted to see how I would deal with that and how my stuttering would be. So I thought it would be better to post after, when everything got back to normal a bit. This way I would have a couple of days to reflect. 

My boss went on vacation for about a week. That meant that I was alone at the office for a couple of days. I've had days where I'm alone, but those are different. Or atleast they feel different. Because during a normal week I know that when I need help, I can always call or text my boss. It's like I always have a back up. This time I was in it all alone.

So how have these days been? I can say one thing, stressfull. Very stressfull. The first 2 days were calm and I handled them very well. But when the third day came around there were doubts that started to sneak their way into my head. Was i really capable of doing this?

More and more phonecalls came in and I was getting a bit stressed out. The main reason of that were troubles with the computer. Long story short, the server crashed. So it was my job to call the IT guy and get it fixed. No problem right? 
I would say no, but our server is our key to every single point of information we have about a client. Adresses, telephone, mail, number of contracts, letters, scanned documents .... Everything is on there. And for about 4 days I could not access that. 
How to make a stressed out cocktail? Just mix doubts with computerproblems and there you go. Enjoy! 

My stuttering was worse during those days. I found that normal. Stress always makes my stuttering get a little harder to deal with. I tried to prepare myself for it but I guess that's something you can not really do. 
I tried to use the tricks I learned during therapy. Making certain letters longer really helped me. 

The hardest part was trying to keep positive. Telling myself that it was just a harder week and that my stuttering would tone down again. It's easy to tell yourself that. It's a little bit harder to believe it. 

Near the end of the week I was completely exhausted. I worked over time almost every single day, wednesday I worked from 8.30 am untill 9 pm. In total I worked 7 hours over time. 
So by friday I felt tired and I started to feel like maybe I didn't have my stuttering under control at all. Was I getting back to my old ways? Was I getting, dare I say it? Negative again? 
I was worried that I would get scared again. Scared to pick up the phone and call someone. 
I refuse to go back to that. 

My stuttering might have been harder on me but I'm glad that I was able to deal with it. 
Talking to Leen that week in therapy also made me realise that it's completely normal to have some harder days again. It happends and there is no shame or harm in it.

It's more important to realise that those days will pass and that everything will get better again as long as you put the work in it and as long as you are positive. 
How we think about something controls our actions. For me that means that when I think negative, I won't be able to make a phonecall anymore. I start to doubt the progress I've made and it's very easy to get back into that negative circle again. One day of this and it can put me back into months of negative doubts.

I'm happy to say that I didn't go down that road. 
My boss was very happy with all the work I did and how I handled everything. And so am I. I think I needed this to show me that I should believe in myself more. 


Love,
Natasja 

Something positive

For this post I just wanted to share a positive experience I've had this week. 

I've been working really hard on how I feel towards my stuttering. I've come a long way. 
A year ago I hated who I was, I hated that I wasn't like everyone else. I felt like I could never be good enough because of my stutter. It controlled my life at that point. I would stop talking, avoid certain conversations or situations ... I didn't feel at ease and I felt like I couldn't control it, like I couldn't control myself. 

That was a year ago. I'm happy to say that those feelings have faided and made place for more positive thoughts. 

This has shown a lot in my self esteem at work. For the last couple of weeks I've been making a lot of progress with it comes to the telephone. So much that even my boss noticed.

This tuesday I had to call the insurance company to get them to accept a customer again. Not an easy task. Especially not when they have been thrown out. I kept really calm and tried to explain everything. I actually dared to ask questions. I dared to express my opinion. I wasn't afraid to talk. And it was the first time in a long time I did all of it while my boss could listen to every single word I said. 

While I was talking he came by and gave me a thumbs up. I couldn't be happier. When I finished he told me that he was very impressed. I can not even put into words how amazing that felt. He said he notices that I feel better in my own skin and that I'm getting more secure with everything I do. 
I've been putting a lot of work into my stuttering. Not only in my speaking but also in how I mentally feel about it. I've said it a lot but stuttering is not only a 'speaking problem', mentally it's very hard. 

Having my boss, someone who sees my every single day, say that he is impressed really took me by heart. He's not the easiest person to impress haha. 

I was even able to say my name 2 times this week to someone in person. Without having a blockage that lasts 10 seconds. I can not tell you how long it has been since I was able to do that. 
Or the fact that I can introduce the company while I'm the one calling someone ... It took me so long to get that but so far it's going great. 

When it comes to stuttering I always see negative experiences being put out. But I really want to keep the postive vibe up. And yes that is coming from the same girl that would cry her eyes out when she made a blockage.

I try to keep the positive experiences in mind. Have I had blockages did week? Yes I did. Did I mind? No I didn't. I managed them as good as I could.


Sometimes it's not about getting rid of the stutter. It's about learning how to live with it and speak with it. 
It's hard and a lot of work but the positive experiences make it all worth it. 

I know that this post is probably all over the place but I just want to show everyone that we should never give up. We can do a lot more than we think. Sometimes it's just all about stepping out of your comfort zone.

Much love,
Natasja 
xx

Have a great weekend!

How I deal with a stressfull day ...

What do you do after a stressfull day where your stuttering has been worse than usual? Or on a day where it's just harder to deal with it? 

Everybody deals with stuttering in their own way. But for this post I'm going to share some of the things I do after I've had a hard day. On these days it feels like have no control over it. Mentally It always feels like I'm drained because I keep overthinking it. So for me it's important that after work, I can relax to the fullest. 

The first thing I do when I leave work is get in my car and put on some songs. 
I will sing along to every single one of them and by the time I get home I usually feel better. I think this is because it just feels relieving to sing and not stutter at all. Plus, can you really be sad when you heard a great song? I can't. 

When I get home it's time to cook dinner. Usually my boyfriend does that but on days where I don't feel great, I will. Maybe it's weird but it just helps me relax. 
While I cook me and my boyfriend usually discuss our days and he will listen to me rant about pretty much everything that went wrong. 
Sometimes It's just good to talk about it. If there is anything I've learned than it's the fact that keeping everything bottled up doesn't solve anything. It's good to talk about it and be open. The more you close yourself, the more stressfull it will get. 

After dinner I will usually take a quick shower. Again, I don't know why but taking a shower just makes me feel better. Like I can wash everything off me. 

Now it's time to watch a little bit of TV. Ah TV, it's just fun to look at someone else their drama. Often I will drink a coffee or some tea while I watch tv. It's like a hug in a mug. 
After an hour/hour and a half I will go upstairs. 

Last thing I do is read a little bit. I will read out loud for about 10 minutes and after that I'll read the rest in silence until I fall asleep. Reading out loud was very hard when I just started therapy. I couldn't read 4 words without have a blockage. When I read fluently after such a hard day, It gives me a good feeling. Like I'm not completely lost. It's good to end a hard day on a good note.

The things I do aren't anything special but they help me. As I said, everyone deals with it on their own way. Some people like to talk about their day, others don't. It's personally and that's totally okay. 
Sometimes the smalles thing can make you feel better. 



Enjoy your easter weekend guys!

Much Love,
Natasja 


Ps. sorry it took so long to get another post up. Things have been a bit crazy here.
Thanks for sticking around. You guys are great!

What I'm working on in therapy

I've said it before and I'll say it again, therapy has been a life changer for me. 
Just the fact that I have someone who listens to me rant about my stuttering and who understands what I'm talking about is a gift from heaven. 

Therapy helps me deal with problems I can't deal with myself. 
There are so many feelings and thoughts that come with stuttering, I'm not the kind of person that can deal with that myself. The tips and tricks that I get from Leen are things that I can not teach myself. 

At this point we have just started working on saying my name on the phone/in person etc. 
I've made a lot of progression with speaking and reading. But this, this is a whole other story. 

Here you can read a little bit about the struggle of saying my name. 
I think it's finally time to really work on this. I would love to be able to say my name on the phone. Sadly enough it's not that easy. I've been wanting to make this a priority for a long time. 

A name is very emotionally loaded. It's something you have been carrying with you for your whole life and you will carry it on for the rest of it. It's something that 2 people who love you so much gave to you. It's a part of your identity. 

That's why it's so hard to say. Because there is a lot of pressure to say it. 
People expect you to be able to say your name. Ofcourse they would, It's your own name. Nobody 'forgets' their own name right? 

Saying my name has always been a big fear. When people ask my name it feels like I'm getting as hot as the sun. It feels impossible to get that under control. 

But it's time to work on this. It's time to put as much time and effort in this as I did with my reading and speaking. The will to say my name fluently is far more bigger than the fear. I want this so bad. 

I can not speak for every stutterer but I think for most of us, our name has always been a struggle. But I also think that with a lot of help, willpower and practisce, we can get this under control.


So from now on, I'm preparing for a lot of frustration. Probably a lot of crying and complaining. But I'm also preparing for my life to get a little bit easier. 
And for that, I can not wait. 



Much Love,
Natasja 

How has my week been?

Have you ever had one of those days were you feel like everything and everyone is against you? Wel,l I had a whole week of this. 

When I have a day like that, it reflects on my stutter to the point where it still bothers me the next day. And now it lasted a whole week? Oh good lord.

From the beginning of the week I noticed that I wasn't as fluent as normal. Mondays tend to be my best days because I'm less tired than on a friday. 
From the moment I stepped in the office I just had a bad feeling about it all. When I had to explain something to my boss I got blocked. I don't even know why. 

When I had to pick up the phone it was like talking fluently was the hardest thing ever. It just wouldn't work. Especially not when your boss is watching you like a hawk.
It was like I was that scared little girl again from a year ago. Strangest feeling ever.

The next couple of days were the same. Some were better than others, they weren't all a total disaster. Monday and Tuesday were definately the hardest out of the whole week. Don't ask me why. I really can't find an explanation for it.
Ofcourse it doesn't help when your boss says 'I notice that your stuttering is worse, are you nervous?' ... 

Are you nervous? I hate it when they ask me that. That's the moment where I put on my bitch face. I think people can see my eyes rolling from across the room. No, I can stutter without even having the smallest bit of nerves inside of me, thank you very much. People need to learn that stuttering has other origins than just being nervous. It's not always related to eachother.

It's just so frustrating isn't it? Not even knowing why your stutter is worse on a certain moment or day? You feel like you have everything under control and then BAM. Even the easiest of words become hard. You can compare it with feeling sad all of the sudden. You are sad but you don't have any clue why. 

When it keeps happening, the entire day, every phonecall and every conversation become a real burden. And after 3 or 4 you become insecure. When you become insecure you begin to doubt yourself. And when that happends you just get more worried for the next phonecall or conversation. It's a circle and it has no end. Only you can break it. 

I came to a point where I was really done with it this week. I just couldn't figure it out anymore. I tried to be calm, to breath, to repeat a part of the word or to make the first letter longer. None of it seem to help anymore. 

Sometimes I wonder if I'm hopeless. Is this going to go on forever? Why can't I seem to get this under control? Why can't I pick up the phone and say my name? Why can't I talk fluently? Why can't I be like everyone else? 
All of these questions just go through your mind every day, it kills that you can't have any answers to it. 

So this week was a hard one. And I'm hoping that next week is going to be better. I'm just trying to move on from it in the best way that I can.
I think this post proves again how having a stutter can play with your mind and your emotions. Even if you don't want it to.



Love,
Natasja 

What I see when I look in the mirror

Looking at ourselves can be a hard thing to do. Are we who we want to be? Are we proud of who we are? 
For me it's not any different. I'm a really insecure person. I don't like to look at myself or reflect on myself. For this post, I decided to do exactly that. 

I took a long look at myself in the mirror. Trying to reflect of what kind of a person I am today. Is this who I thought I would be?

Sometimes I feel like I'm looking at two different people. One of them is insecure, overwelmed with thoughts, and the other one is proud of what she has already achieved. She feels confident at times even with all of these fears in her head.

I like that I'm a combination of both. Because 1 year ago, I would be writing something very different. I wouldn't be writing about 2 people. I would be writing about one, a very insecure girl that let's her stuttering get the best of who she is. A girl who doesn't believe in herself anymore. A girl that is losing a struggle to her stuttering. I felt ashamed of the person I was.

Right now I see someone that is very hard to handle and who hates receiving negative comments because she is very demanding on herself. But sometimes, she just can't be bothered. 
I see someone who has a voice but is sometimes afraid to out it because she is scared that people won't listen to her. 
I see someone that is not afraid of challenges because she doesn't want people to see her as someone vulnerable.

I worked very hard to get to where I am today. And that's something that shows. When I look at myself I also see someone that's tired. And I'm not talking about physically tired. What I mean is that some days, I get tired mentally. 
I always try to be postive. I get down pretty easily and that makes my stuttering worse. To avoid that I try to always look on the bright sight of things and I try to not let anything get me down. I'm not going to lie, it's hard. It's hard to always give yourself a peptalk, sometimes you just want to let it out and cry, scream, anything. 
The fact that I try to not do that makes me tired. Tired of always trying to be a happy, cheerfull and positive person. 

When I close my eyes for a second and look back at myself, I see a fighter. A person who might be tired and insecure, but someone who keeps on going because that is the only thing that you can do. 
I've never been someone that gives up. At school I was behind on reading because, due to my stuttering, I couldn't read as fluent as other children in my class and that's why I got put in the lowest group. It was just me and one other girl. Every night I read to myself in order to get where the other kids were. I knew that I could read fluently, it just wouldn't happen when I had to do it in class. Eventho that might have been the case, I never stopped trying. I wanted to, but I never did. 

Stutterers have to fight their whole lives. Fight to prove themselves to others and even to ourselves. We are very insecure people but we will rarely show that. We put ourselves away because we think we are not worth other people their time. 
But we are strong. Don't think we're weak human beings, trust me, we're not. 
We have gone trough more stress than you can ever imagine. 

When I look in the mirror, I see someone that I'm proud of. I see a hard worker, someone that can barely sit still and who loves cleaning a little bit to much. Someone who loves making others happy and who is glad that she has the life she has. 

I see someone who sometimes wishes she didn't have a stutter. Who wishes to be like everyone else. But when she really thinks about it, she wouldn't have it any other way. 
My stutter might be a big pain in the ass, but I can't imagine my life without it. I've met some really nice people because of it and I've done some things I would have never done otherwise. It makes me see the world differently and It makes me appreciate good days even more. 

I see someone who loves to laugh and who loves to make others laugh. I also see a very sarcastic person who doesn't give out to many changes. Don't try to get on her bad side because you will forever stay there. 
I see someone who has been hurt a lot and has trust issues because of it. But once she does trust you, she would stick her hand in a fire for you. 

But most of all, I see someone who, at this moment, is happy. 
And after everything, that truely feels amazing. 


What do you guys see when you look in the mirror? 
Don't be afraid to reflect on yourself and give yourself some credit. You have already overcome a lot. Treat yourself to some positive comments to lift yourself up. 


Have a great weekend everyone! 

xx
Natasja 

My experience today.

Today started as such a good day at work. I did a lot of phonecalls and I was very pleased with the results. I felt like I was on a roll today.

Sadly enough, sometimes things happen that can ruin your day. It can be something small, but it can also be something big. I don't even know if mine was big or small, I just know that my whole day was ripped to shreds just because of one comment.

Normally I don't write about these things. I want to keep a positive vibe on this blog. I don't want to complain and I don't want to be negative, because that won't help anyone. 
But I really feel like I have to talk about this. I need to talk about this to get it of my chest. But I also want you to take a look into my life. Into my stories. Because sadly enough it's not only rainbows and butterflies. 

So what happened?

I had to call a client to ask if she wanted to bring some documents to the office. I needed them to make a good price offer for her car. 
I called her a couple of times but she didn't pick up the phone. After a while she called back herself and I started to explain everything. I blocked. Not a big blockage, not a blockage that worried me or had me stressed. Just a small blockages that sometimes happends and goes away after 1 second. That 1 second was the worst one yet. This woman didn't let me finish. 
From the moment I blocked all she kept saying was 'Hello'. Hello Hello Hello. It was like a train rushing by not leaving me any space to talk. Because this stressed me so much, I couldn't get anything out anymore. This woman was so stressed herself that I couldn't calm myself down. 
She decided to come to the office so that I could explain it to her in person. 

When she came to the office I felt worried. I don't know why, I just did. I didn't feel like talking to this person anymore. 
I tried to gather my courage and explain everything to her again. From the minute that I paused between my words this woman started it all again. 'You're doing it again. Why can't you talk fluently? I thought there was a problem with the phone, it's not the phone ... it's you. If you can't talk to me fluently, I can't understand you'. 
These words cut me like a knife. At first I didn't know how to react. I didn't know wether to explain it all to her or just leave it. This woman wouldn't understand it either way. 
'Sometimes I have problems speaking fluently' I said to her. She looked at me with this grin on her face. I couldn't figure out why this seemed to be so funny.

I tried to get to the point again and asked her if she wanted to get me the documents. 
After a while of talking she finally started to leave. But before she left, she needed to ask me the one question that I always hate. 'So what's your name?' ... Seriously, why couldn't this woman just leave me alone for the day? Maybe I was overreacting but at that point I wanted to be alone. Away from everyone. I took a deep breath and tried to get my name out. She gave me about 3 seconds before saying 'see, you're doing it again' ... Again with that grin on her face... I breathed out and said my name. She didn't listen.  'My brother couldn't talk fluently either, he got therapy. You know you can get rid of it right?'. I tried to stay as friendly as I could ... I told her that I'm doing therapy and that I'm trying my best. I didn't want to say more. I didn't want to explain how hard I work every single day to get where I am at this point. 

She left. And with that I shut the door, took my seat and started crying. 
Why did this woman get to me like that? I started wondering why I was so upset about it.
It's not that she told me to get therapy, it's not that she had that grin on her face or called me influent. It's that she never gave me the chance to talk. She never gave me time or space to say what I needed to say. And ofcourse that grin and called me influent made my blood boil as well. 

I have done a lot of phonecalls and I have seen a lot of people. I never had anyone react like this in the 1.5 year that I work in the office. I've always been given the time to say what I needed to say and I've always been able to say what I needed to. 

I can't get it out of my head. I still need to see this woman and talk to her. And right now I really don't know if I can do that.

But tomorrow is a new day and I'm going to show this woman that I'm amazing at my job. 
She knows that I have this problem, so I have nothing to hide anymore. It's out there and that's actually a good thing. 
She's just one person out of a million. One person in 1.5 years who has said something negative. 
She's like a needle in a haystack and I'm not planning on giving her comments any more attention. 

I also want to make clear that I'm not saying that she is a bad person. I only know her from this experience. I'm sure she didn't mean it in the way that it came across.
I don't think she is a mean person. I'm just saying that it's not okay to act like this around people who have a stutter or any other type of problem.
Respect is a very important part of life.
I just think that people should choose their words more carefull sometimes.


I'm sorry to post something that's a little bit more negative but this was my experience today and I felt like sharing this with all of you. I might seem like a positive person (atleast that's a comment that I get a lot) but that's not how I am all the time. Sometimes I break and I have a hard time. It's all part of it. 


Love,
Natasja 

In great company

Hello everyone!

The first 2 weeks of january have almost passed and the first snow has fallen in Belgium.
I never would have thought that we would see snow this year but here we go.

Time for another post on my blog.
I wanted to write last week but seeing as I was sick with a very bad cold I decided to wait until I got better.

For this post I wanted to emphasize the fact that stutterers are not alone. We look up to celebrity's and people who have made a name for themselves. Atleast I do. And sometimes it feels like they have everything going for them. When you discover that they are just normal people like us, it feels like a new world opens up.
We are not the only ones struggling with stuttering. There are a lot of celebrity's who went through the same thing as a lot us did.


James Earl Jones

We all know James Earl Jones. He is the voice of darth vader and Mufasa in the lion king. He is a brilliant actor with a voice that everybody knows so well.
James was also a stutterer. But he wasn't born with it like many of us.
It was actually by imitating his cousin Randy, who did have a stutter, that he started stuttering himself.
Because of this there was a time when he didn't speak to anyone. He chose to stay silent.
With the help of a teacher he slowly overcame it and started to study drama at university, by this time he had a grip on his stutter.
Years have gone by and in all of them he only stuttered once on stage.

I think this shows that if you really want to, you can make your weakness your greatest strenght.



Marylin Monroe

When you mention Marylin Monroe to me, I always think about her voice. She had this very breathy voice that sounded really sexy.
What a lot of people don't know is that this voice was a result of her stuttering as a child.

Marylin stuttered very heavily during her childhood, a speech therapist taught her how to use her breathing to help her speech. And that is where her famous voice comes from.

To this day, Marylin Monroe is still considered to be one of the most sexy woman in this world. Sometimes having a stutter can make you feel like an outcast. But this woman didn't let it bother her at all. Just for that she is someone to look up to.


Samuel L. Jackson

Another great man and another great actor.
Samuel L Jackson has been a stutterer since his childhood.
Until this day he still struggles with it, but he has found a great help ...

"I was the other day on the set of Captain America, and they said 'Action!" and I said, 'G-g-g-et ...' It was a G day. So I have my days. I have G days, I have P days, I have B days, I have S days, and I'm still stuttering. But I figured out a way to do it. And some days, the best thing for me to do is say my favorite word, and I get through it: 'Motherfucker!'"

Appearantly, saying the word 'Motherfucker' helps him talk trough his stutters.
Why? because the word itself has a lot of anger in it. It relieves a lot of that build up anger or stress that so many stutterers deal with. By saying that word the situation itself can become more amusing.

Maybe not the best help for someone that works in the insurance sector but I think that it really suits Samuel L Jackson haha.


Emily Blunt

We all know her as the snotty assistant from the devil wears prada but in real life she is also a stutterer. By looking at her acting skills you would never have guessed that she was also a really heavy stutterer.

While growing up, she had a stutter so bad that she couldn't even hold a conversation.
Like most of us, she had a lot to say but just couldn't get it out.

With the help of a speech therapist and a school play where she could distance her from herself, she started to see that she could speak fluently.



I can go on and on with my list. Let's not forget Julia Roberts, Rowan Atkinson, King george, Winston Churchill, Chris Martin, Elvis Presley, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

What I'm trying to show with this is that all of these people had a stutter. Maybe not all of their lives but they did struggle with it for a long time. They have all become succesfull. They have become oscar winners, golden globe winners, scientists, the most famous people of this world are on this list.

So why be ashamed? Why be ashamed of something that happends to the best of us? Why just say 'being a stutterer is all I am' when it's clear that we can become so much more?

Stuttering isn't in our lives to make us less than anyone else. It's there to make us better! To challenge ourselves every day and to do things that we were once afraid of.
Don't let this or the reactions of others tear you down. All of these people never did that.
They kept on going and worked hard to achieve their goals and dreams.

We can become anything we want to be. It might take a lot of hard work but let's face it. Nobody has died from working hard in their lives.

I hope this post can make you realise that this stuttering can lift you up and build you up to be an amazing person. You are more than a stutterer. You are fighter and a survivor.
But most of all, you are who you are and you can become whatever you want to be.
Never ever forget that.



Much love,
Natasja

Page 365 out of 365

Hi lovies, 

Can you believe it's already the last day of 2015? Gosh I can't believe how fast time flies by.
2015 was a great year for me. On so many levels. It was also a very difficult year. Let's take a quick look at my 2015 and let's see what I wish all of you in the new year. 

The first couple of months of 2015 have been very though. As I wrote down in my post called 'the letter that changed everything' I was struggling a lot with who I was and the place that stuttering had in my life. I didn't feel like I belong at my workplace or in this world. I felt like I was stuck in a negative circle and I wouldn't be able to get out of it. I had to fight. Fight against negative voices in my head but also against comments that others made to me. 

In may of 2015 I decided to take action and fight against my fears at my workplace. Still one of the best decisions I made this year (other than starting this blog ofcourse haha). 

In may I also went on my first vacation in 5 years. Yay for travelling by plane. Can I just say that I love flying? I love planes. Is it weird that I find them cute? ... Oke that's not the point of all this. Marmaris was beautiful and I'm so thankfull that I got the chance to go there. Finally, after 5 months of stressing about everything, I got the chance to relax. For once those voices in my head saying I wasn't good enough were completely silent. Marmaris was the perfect opportunity to think about what I wanted to achieve with my stuttering; Did I just want to undergo it? Or did I want to do more with it? Did I want to keep this to myself or share it with others who might be able to get help from it? The idea of starting a blog had been in my head for a long time, but on vacation I really had the chance to think about it more. Would people really read something like that?

In June everything at work got better. I felt like I was getting back to my old self. I was able to sleep better, eat better and let go of my worries (well not all of them ofcourse). 

Months went by and around the time of July I wrote my first post called 'Let's go back to the beginning'. I remember being really excited but scared at the same time. I was throwing something very personal on to the world wide web. Would this really be something that could make a difference for someone?

In august I was able to visit Munich. My boyfriend is there a lot for his job and finally, it was time for me to see the city with him. 6 days I enjoyed the sun, Munich, the German food (wow is all I can say) and the culture.I loved it. 

From July untill now I got nothing but postive reactions on my blog. Words can not discribe how much that means to me. I love writing. But I love it even more now because I know that I help others. Other stutterers have told me that they feel understood, they finally don't feel alone anymore. That is why I do this. 

So in conclusion, 2015 was a great year. It thought me a lot of lessons. I said goodbye to some people in my life who clearly didn't want to be in it. I had to say goodbye to my dog Max, who passed away at 16. I really got to know myself this year. Thanks to my parents, boyfriend, family in law and Leen (my speech therapist) I feel much stronger now than at the beginning of the year. I'm proud of what I did in 2015 and I want to keep this positive vibe up in 2016. 

But to be honest, I wouldn't be feeling like this if it wasn't for all of you. This might be cheesy but this comes from my heart. You guys are the reason that I feel like I can make a difference for others stutterers. Thank you for sticking by me in these 6 months. I really hope that we can carry this on into the new year.

What I wish for you in 2016? I hope you find everything that you are looking for. I wish you guys all of the love and friendship you are able to carry. I wish you guys a lot of luck with everything you do. I wish that you would love yourself a little more and not let your stuttering get you down. But most of all, I wish that you find yourself in this crazy world. And I hope that you know that I'm always here for you. 

Let's end 2015 with a bang and start 2016 with postive vibes. 

Have a great new years everyone. I hope you can spend it with the people you love. 

Love,
Natasja 
<3

1 year of therapy !!!

This week it has been 1 year since I started therapy again. I have to say, I'm so glad I made the decision to go back. 

Some people believe that therapy is a waste of money, or they say that it doesn't help. 
For me it has been a big help. Without it, I wouldn't be where I am today. 
During this year we worked on a lot of things and in this post I want to go over it a couple with you. 

My first big problem was my self esteem. Well, the lack of it. My stuttering made sure that I was always doubting myself. I always felt like I wasn't good enough. I didn't feel comfortable in my own skin. Things like ordering something in a restaurant or even going to a store were really stressfull for me. I just knew that I would make a fool out of myself. Stuttering really gets into your mind and produces negative thoughts. You sometimes don't realise that all of the things you are so afraid of, might not be so scary. You get stuck int his negative circle and it's really hard to get out of.

Thanks to therapy I'm feeling much better. My thoughts are more positive and I just feel a lot better. Bad days don't have so much influence on me anymore. I'm not saying that I never have negative thoughts (I'm only human) but overall they are less frequent and less bad. I try to be as positive as I can and I try to get myself to do scary things like ordering by myself in a store or picking up the phone and calling clients/company's without making excuses. 

I was also very scared to let people notice that I stutter. I always pictured their reactions, them looking at me funny, rolling their eyes, telling me to talk faster ... 
I was ashamed. My goal was to be able to make stutters without feeling that shame. I wanted to make stutters without have stress about what people would think. 

In therapy we watched a lot of video's of other people stuttering. It made me realise that my stuttering wasn't bad and I shouldn't feel ashamed. Nobody should. People react more positive to it than you would actually think. Now I feel like I can make a stutter and I can say 'whatever, I made a stutter, it's a part of me'. I think this is also a result of my self esteem growing. I don't want to hide it anymore. And I can not tell you how good that feels.

Another big thing to work on was  the tension I had when I made stutters. Because of the fact that I was scared to make stutters, I would build up a lot of stress. See, there are different kind of stutters. You have stutters with a lot of tension where you can feel it in your neck/shoulders/cheeck/face, you have stutters that have a small amound of tension where you can feel it but you don't feel like you have to push your words out and there are stutters with almost no tension where you feel like you can go in the stutter with a certain amound of relaxation in your voice and body. My stutters where the kind where after a day of work I would come home with so much tention in my body, I could sometimes barely even move my neck because of the stress I had build up on my muscles. 
Have I told you that stuttering is more than just not being able to talk fluently? 

Thanks to Leen I found some methods where I'm able to talk with a relaxing feeling. I said it before but making extentions like 'NNNatasja' or making repetitions like 'Na-Na-Natasja' really releaves my stress. 
I can go into my stutters without any type of stress. I can not tell you how could it feels. 
It was never my goal to get rid of my stutters, it was my goal to be able to talk fluently even with stutters. Thanks to these 2 small methods I'm able to do that. 

Last but not least, my reading. God that was just so bad. I couldn't even read one sentence without having 4 or 5 blockages that lasted about 20 seconds, sometimes even more. I had so much trouble with reading, it took me 4 minutes to read 4 sentences. You think I'm kidding? I can actually show you the evidence because Leen filmed it during my first session. I hated reading out loud. I hated it so bad and every time I had to do it I could just picture myself blocking on every word.

Tuesday I read the same text again that I read during my first session. It took me 4 minutes to read 4 sentences then, now it took me a little above a minute to read 4 alinea's of 4 to 6 sentences. I can not tell you how could it felt to accomplish that. By using extentions and repetitions I am able to read a text more fluently. The hardest part is always the first sentence. Once I'm past that I read fluently, like a normal person. I'm so happy that I accomplished that. I practise my reading a lot and now I actually enjoy it. 

Ofcourse we worked on a lot more but these are the 4 biggest things that, in my opinion, needed work. Leen has really helped me this year. I'm so greatfull for that. 
Nobody should tell you what to do or what not to do but in my opinion, therapy is worth giving a try. It can really help you deal with your stutter. 

I know this was a long post but I just wanted to share this with you because a part of my is a little bit proud of what I accomplished this year and the progress I made so far. And I think I have a right to be. I still have a lot of work to do (trust me) but accepting my stutter is something that I've never been able to do. It feels pretty amazing.

Last but not least.
HO HO HO merry Christmas everyone.
I hope all of you have a great Christmaseve and great Christmasday tomorrow.
Spend it with the people you love and make it a great one. 
I love you guys, thank you for all the support after my previous post. It really is appreciated. You guys are amazing. 

Much Love,
Natasja xxx

Happy birthday

Monday I turned 24. My mom turned 57. Yes we have the same birthday :-). I'm very lucky to share a birthday with my mom.

For me turning 24 also means 19 years of dealing with my stuttering. So I used the day to reflect on my life so far. 

For 19 years I've had a lot of self doubt, a lot of fear of people knowing that I have a stutter. I was scared to be vulnerable. I didn't like it when people saw who I really was, someone struggling every step of the way to feel good. 
Every time I had a stutter I would feel so ashamed. And for what? For being who I am? 

I've had those thoughts for most of my life. Turning 24 made me realise that I've spend most of my life thinking about what others would think of me. I've wasted hours, days, months. 
The last few months I have started to change that. 

It's a hard thing. Changing thoughts you've had for 19 years. 
When I was little I always told myself that my stutter would be gone by the time I turned 20 or 25. I told myself I would work so hard and it would be gone by the time I had a job. I would be able to make phonecalls, talk to people and do all of it without stuttering. I would even pretend to work as a secretary and make fake phonecalls when I was little. I loved it. And now I absolutely hate it ... 

When I was younger I would pretend to be a grown up, I would pretend that my life would be so much better than it was at that point. I would actually dream about not having a stutter. All I wanted was to be normal. 

Now I've realised that I'm probably never going to be completely stutter-free. And that's not what I want either. I want to be able to have conversations, phonecalls and do it all with stutters. But with comfortable short stutters instead of blockages. My goal has changed from being stutter-free to being comfortable with it. Right now, that's all I want.

I can not count all of the negative experiences I've had so far. All of the bad phonecalls where I couldn't even say a word. Or the conversations where I felt like my blockage was actually cutting all of the air off. 
But I can not forget about all of the good moments. The happiness I have felt when I had a succesfull phonecall or conversation. Or the happiness that comes from a good session at therapy. And let's not forget the speaking assignments at school that made me feel on top of the world. 

In 24 years I've overcome a lot of hurdles. I look back at some moments and think 'Why was I even stressing about that?' 'Why was I scared to make a stutter?' ... The negative moments are nothing compared to the good ones. I know that there are a lot of negatives ones to come, I'm still struggling with a lot of things but I have so many people in my life supporting me and helping me ... I know that I'm going to be all right. I'm only 24 years old. 


To all of the people who have a stutter I just want to say that you are not alone. You can do whatever you set your mind to. You are more then just someone that stutters. You are a fighter because you've never known anything else. All you've had to do is fight. And that is exactly what makes you different. It's not the stuttering, it's the fact that you are not someone that gives up. You're going to reach your goal, one way or another. 




Love,
Natasja 

Dear mum and dad

Dear mum and dad,

I've always tried to be a good daughter. I've always tried to be someone you could be proud of. Why? Because you have sacreficed a lot for me over the years.

Thank you for always taking time for me and never judging me. You accepted me and my stutter and did whatever you could to help me deal with it.

For 6 years you took me to speech therapy every single week for multiple times.
In the beginning I had to go 3 times a week for 1,5 hours. I've never heard you complain. 
You always took me there, waited for me and helped me. 

I can imagine this wasn't easy. Both of you worked every day and still had to run the household. Mum, you even changed your job when you heard that I needed to go to therapy that often. And dad, you left your job earlier to drive me on fridays just to make sure I wouldn't miss a session. 

I'm not going to lie. You were strict on me. I remember being so scared when I had to come home with a bad test. I always felt so bad because I knew I had let you down. 
Luckily those bad grades didn't happen a lot and if it happened, I always found a way to make it up. 
Thanks to you I never had any big troubles at school. You made sure I balanced homework with therapy sessions without too many problems. Even after my sessions you helped me with my homework. 

I think it's important to realise that having a child that has a stutter is not easy on the parents either. They need to arrange therapy, take their child to therapy, do the household and maybe balence other children as well.
You guys have always balanced it out perfectly. 

Thank you for giving me everything I needed. 
Thank you for teaching me to work hard and not give up.
Thank you for loving me the way I am and putting me first.
Thank you for making yourselves the best parents I could ever wish for. 
I am a very lucky person. 
I hope I have done nothing but make you proud. 


Love,
Natasja 

Little recap of the past 2 weeks

Due to a lot of work at my job and at home I haven't really got the chance to post in these 2 weeks, which I apologize about. I'm not the kind of person that can post something real quick and not think about it anymore. When I post something it's related to me and my situation. I always try to think of something where others can get some support or help from.

For this post I'm going to do a recap of the past 2 weeks. How has my stuttering been? Has it been worse, better or has it stayed the same as before?

I can say one thing, in these past 2 weeks I have answered more phonecalls than normally in 1 month. It's been very busy at my job due to the fact that a lot of things are changing for our clients, in a good way ofcourse, and the fact that I'm just 8 new contracts away from hitting my yearly goal. So the pressure is on. 

With all of this comes a lot of stress and pressure. Something that, eventho I had a lot of work during college, is a little bit new to me. It's a different kind of stress or pressure. As I have said before, stress influences my stuttering a lot.

I have so say that I'm pretty happy with how I have been handling incoming phone calls lately. I'm still having small stutters or small blockages but I'm controling them more and I'm not thinking about them so much anymore. Ofcourse this can change from day to day and I know that I will have days where it will be more difficult. 

Overall, incoming calls are going good. Can they be better? Ofcourse, but Rome wasn't build in a day and neither is handling your stuttering. 

When it comes to phonecalls that I have to make myself, it's a little bit harder. 
First of all, when you make a phone call it's common to say your name and the company, now that is already something that is very hard for me. Then there is the part where your message has to come across loud and clearly to the person on the other line. Now imagine already stressing out about saying your name ... how in the world will you get your message across? The stress is already build up so high in the beginning that it's hard to lower it during the rest of the call. 

For me, those calls are definitely a work in progress. So far, they are still a disaster. I can't get myself to actually make a phone call where I don't have any problems with just introducing myself. It's frustrating because I want to be able to do my job like everyone else would.
All I can do is keep practicing. 

Talking in general is going pretty good. Not without stutters or blockages but with more relaxed stutters or blockages. There isn't so much pressure on my troath anymore which makes it easier to talk a little bit more fluently. 
This also fluctuates day to day. 
I sometimes try to make voluntarily stutters during my speaking. This isn't easy for me because it sometimes feels a bit unnatural. 
A voluntarily stutter is when I can feel a stutter coming up and to avoid a blockage or a real stutter I will actually make a stutter myself. For example, instead of having a blockage on my name, I would say 'Na-Na-Natasja'. I'm still making a stutter but it's more relaxed, shorter and it won't end up in a blockage.

To get rid of the unnatural feeling, me and Leen have speaking assignments where I have to tell a short story or just talk about something random. While I'm doing this I would have to make voluntarily stutters. That helps to make it feel more natural and more common to me. 
Outside of the therapy it's very hard for me to do this but I do try to slip a voluntarily stutter into my speaking sometimes. 

Last but not least is my reading. Yes, I also have trouble with reading. When I just began my therapy again, I couldn't even read one sentence out loud without stuttering or having blockages on pretty much every word.
I have been practising a lot on my reading and it's been going better.
It's also something that me and Leen work on a lot. 
By also making stutters on a voluntarily basis I can take the pressure off certain letters or words just like with my speaking.
Now I can actually read a short story fluently without to many blockages or stutters. Trust me when I say, that took a lot of effort and a lot of work. 
Just like with my speaking, there are good and bad days. Some days I can read a whole story without even having to make a voluntarily stutter and other days it's very hard to even start the sentence. 

Overall, I'm pleased with how I'm doing so far. Seeing as I'm under a lot of stress it could have been a lot worse. I try to take a lot of energy out of the good days so that the bad ones can be forgotten quickly. 

The key words are patience, work and having faith in yourself.



Love, 
Natasja