The hardships of a guy with a speech impediment
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Well, even if you speak well physically, I see you can write quite well. What I believe is that if you're lacking in something, that you will have something else to make up for it.
In the first place, have you found out what could be the problem with your speech? For all you know surgery may not be needed, and all you need is some speech therapy sessions.
I would suggest going down to your friendly neighbourhood GP who can advise you more on this matter. -
I'm going to go out on a limb here and propose that they key issue here is the attitude that you take to your condition.
As others here have noted, you suffer no lack of communication skills - your post is clear and well-articulated. As you have noted yourself, your speech impediment undermines your confidence despite your positive qualities, and if you take this as a starting point, everything else can be seen to follow it.
Getting away from the abstract, I put forward the case of a close friend of mine. She lost her hearing at the age of four owing to a childhood disease, and in fact was not diagnosed as being hearing-imparied for the next five years. By that time, teachers had mistaken her hearing impairment as an intellectual disability.
Here's the damdest thing - she never took any notice of it, at least not apparently. She became student president at pre-university, and went on to finish her honours degree, and on top of that has gone on to do anything that any able-bodied person would do and then some. The clincher is that for years I'd wanted to date her, but do you think she was ever short of attention? Hell no - I never got to get a word in edgewise.
To this day we remain close friends. She's been with her partner for seven years and I'm engaged to someone else, but even today I'll freely admit that her outlook on life is wonderfully attractive. She's never let anything stop her, shallow-minded detractors be damned - that's just downright sexy in my book.
At the risk of doing a Tony Robbins, the bottom line is that you have a choice - focus upon your shortcomings and let them cripple you, or ignore them and make best use of what you do have. It's up to you. -
I will try to focus on my strong points and ignore my speech defect, but i really do not know. For now i will take it one step at a time to improve on my confidence.
This journey of mine will be arduous, tough and full of despair and disappointment. I will try to walk across this desert of an obstacle alone and try to be brave for my future.
My worst fear is of course dying of an old age alone without even experiencing love due to this confounded tongue of mine. I will try to be confident but it will take time for me on my part to adjust to my comfort level. -
PA, do keep in mind that it's not about physical characteristics, it's about character. Those who cannot get past the blatently obvious are not worth your time - those who can are worth all the time in the world.
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Will take that in mind, thanks! I may be heading over to a GP soon to have my problem checked and also to see a counseller to help me with a plan on this issue.
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All the best, PA. From your posts, I'd say that you do have a lot going for you, so focus on that and let the person that you really are shine out!
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Don't worry, you probably have not even come to the meat of things yet. And it would be likely that that might not even be the real issues you could be facing in a relationship in the future. So like what Gedanken has suggested... Don't let that add as an additional barrier among all things possible...Originally posted by Pullup Addict:I will try to focus on my strong points and ignore my speech defect, but i really do not know. For now i will take it one step at a time to improve on my confidence.
This journey of mine will be arduous, tough and full of despair and disappointment. I will try to walk across this desert of an obstacle alone and try to be brave for my future.
My worst fear is of course dying of an old age alone without even experiencing love due to this confounded tongue of mine. I will try to be confident but it will take time for me on my part to adjust to my comfort level.