Nobody can say that I haven't tried. This is going to take some practice! Stopping some of the tricks I have been using to hide my stuttering is hard. I didn't realize how often I did it. I have really become good at not being myself, or at least not talking like myself. I would start the day thinking that I would just stutter right on through a word, but find myself substituting a stupid phrase that meant the same thing as one word, using a word that didn't really express what I meant, or waiting for the other person to complete my sentence as they often do.
It is amazing what this does to my self esteem! I want to speak for myself and say what I want to say. I am going to work on this until I can do it. I am going to try doing it with one person until I no longer use my old tricks with them, then I'll work on doing it in situations where the people don't know me like ordering in a restaurant. The telephone has to be last. Let's see how that works.
Now that I have a plan, who am I going to talk to and try NOT using my stuttering tricks? Certainly not my mother. I have already talked to a coworker about stuttering and admitted that I stutter. She didn't believe me; I cover it up too well. Okay, tomorrow when Cindy and I are at lunch for one hour, I will concentrate on not using those tricks.