I can hardly believe I have written 200 posts about stuttering, and have over 16,000 comments in less than a year. Seems like just yesterday I started writing.  Writing and sharing  about my stuttering journey.  I am not traveling alone! That is a good feeling and makes such a difference in my life.

I talked with Ramma last night, and he asked if I ever need a break from the stuttering community. He said that he used to read about stuttering all of the time at a different point in his life. It was the first thing he read when he woke up in the morning and last thing he read before going to bed. He was voracious about it. He was constantly searching for new information, updated research and an answer about a cure.

He shared that he soon stopped checking all the stuttering sites so much, as they were all saying the same things, and maybe he needed a break. I submitted to him that maybe he didn’t need a break, that maybe he had reached a point of acceptance that he no longer felt the need to “search”. For news, for fluency, for a cure.

Ramma paused for a long moment and said, “You know, that’s a good point. You just put acceptance in a different perspective for me.”  Of course, I asked what he meant by that. And he said, “well, I guess  you can look at acceptance as when you are no longer making a conscious decision to accept your stuttering. You just do.”

You just do. Those three words said a lot. We talked about it. I told Ramma I stay involved with the stuttering community because I like being able to give back, to contribute, to maybe help someone else from what I have been through. I don’t consciously think too often about needing to accept my stuttering any more either. I seem to just do it. By talking about it, by stuttering openly,by sharing my feelings – even on bad speech days – that shows acceptance.

It is like the old saying, “Actions speak louder than words”. Our actions speak volumes about us – who we are and what is important to us.

I just want to say to all of you that stutter or care about people who stutter: thanks for being here with me on this journey. Knowing that what we have to say is important, is, well, important. We are community and we grow and share together.

Let me know what you think about acceptance being just something we do, instead of something we consciously think about it.