Ability
Posted on: May 28, 2012
- In: Posts
- 2 Comments
How many of us have ability that we are not using? Sometimes we don’t allow our skills and talents to shine through because we think (or fear) that our stuttering will overshadow everything else.
I used that excuse myself for a long time. I was afraid people wouldn’t see me or my ability if I stuttered openly. Of course, I also used the excuse that it was safer.
When I stayed quiet, no one had the opportunity to react negatively. In an earlier post, I wrote about choosing to be anonymous. That protects us from negative social consequences, but it also often keeps us from growing.
Never in all the years that I was covert could I have imagined that I would have a job that requires regular public speaking. And that I would also volunteer for speaking challenges through my affiliation with Toastmasters.
I knew deep down that I had ability that I purposely was not using just because I stutter. Along with ability, I also had ambition. I wanted to be successful and do the things I knew I could and not let anything hold me back. I have a voice that I wanted heard.
Recently, I heard or read something about ability which really struck a chord and got me thinking about this. I do not know the source, but I hope it gets you thinking about your abilities and ambitions.
“Ability without ambition is like kindling wood without the spark.”
What do you think?
2 Responses to "Ability"
May 31, 2012 at 12:57 AM
A great post and one that I relate to very well. How I deal with this is that I try to I be involved in things that I can effectively contribute to, but in the background where I do not have to talk much. I even asked that I be a support staff for one of the jobs I held and when the company could not support me on this any more, I walked off the job.
Needless to say, the thought of doing something that requires me to talk a lot is still daunting.
May 29, 2012 at 7:30 AM
Hi Pam
That’s a wonderful post. I agree that we can all blame our stuttering for holding us back when really its US that hold us back from achieving what we want. The same could be said for many things, I know many people who could achieve so much more and have so much potential but they put themselves down and blame parts of themselves or their lives for them not going further when the only thing stopping them from getting exactly what they want is themselves. It’s really complex and I think that we all in some small ways have sabotaged ourselves to some extent, we need to stop doing that and look to the wonderful future we all have – we all have gifts – its hard sometimes acccepting that – we would rather hear something negative and think “oh that has to be true” rather than hearing something positive.
I am constantly in a battle with my confidence and my stutter but we (my stutter and me) will learn to get on and work together so that I can be a whole person.
Sue Tubman.