| I had absolutely no doubt, during the eighteen | | | | huge boost and I now became a lot more |
| years that I had a stuttering problem, that there | | | | care-free and happy. |
| was a link between my confidence and the | | | | So what effect did this confidence boost have to |
| speech impediment. At the age of twenty-two I | | | | my overall fluency levels? Well to put it quite |
| decided to wage war on my stutter, I could no | | | | simply the effect was quite dramatic, I was now |
| longer accept living life with this most annoying of | | | | able to speak without any issues at all, it felt |
| impediments; it had had such a massive control | | | | tremendous. |
| over me. I hatched a plan which was to fight this | | | | I was fully aware that this was not exactly any |
| war on two fronts, the first of which would be to | | | | type of cure for stuttering and that I could not |
| attempt to formulate a set of stuttering cure | | | | live life in a permanent drunken state! It did |
| techniques and the second of which would be to | | | | however convince me that I would one day be |
| learn about the best ways to increase one's | | | | able to achieve total fluency and aged |
| self-confidence/self esteem. | | | | twenty-two I decided to attempt to make that |
| From the time that I started to drink alcohol the | | | | dream happen. |
| link between confidence and stuttering was an | | | | The road to recovery was far from a smooth |
| obvious one. After consuming around six bottles | | | | one and I had to fight many battles along the |
| of beer I would become a completely different | | | | way. The victory in this stuttering war was |
| person. No longer did I fear the stutter, instead I | | | | eventually mine after a period of just under |
| laughed in the faces of the demons who were | | | | twelve months. I had finally fulfilled a life long |
| trying to make me worry about my speech. The | | | | dream of overcoming my stutter. |
| alcohol had given my confidence some kind of | | | | |