By Laurent Lagarde

Laurent Lagarde, who translated the books Advice to Those Who Stutter and Sometimes I Just Stutter into French, now shares “25 things I wish I had known about stuttering when I was 20 years old.” Laurent Lagarde, who translated the books Advice to Those Who Stutter and Sometimes I Just Stutter into French, now shares “25 things I wish I had known about stuttering when I was 20 years old.”

He wrote them for his French blog and has now translated them into English.

1. I wish I had known that stuttering is not a fault and is not my fault.

2. I wish I had known that stuttering is just one part of my person.

3. I wish I had known that to accept doesn’t mean to abdicate.

4. I wish I had known that stuttering is not the explanation for all the things I don’t like in me or in my life.

5. I wish I had known it’s possible to overcome stuttering.

6. I wish I had known that a common point among PWS who have overcome stuttering is that they knew it was possible.

7. I wish I had known that stuttering is not a failure and fluency is not a success.

8. I wish I had known that you have to dare to be yourself with your virtues and defects.

9. I wish I had known that speaking openly about my stuttering could be such a relief.

10. I wish I had known that others will react to my stuttering the way I react to it myself.

11. I wish I had known that speaking about stuttering is opening the door to a world of wonderful discoveries and encounters.

12. I wish I had known you must never let stuttering prevent you from moving forward.

13. I wish I had known that every avoidance is a waste of time.

14. I wish I had known that every journey starts with a first step.

15. I wish I had known that you don’t have to be good to start but you have to start to be good.

16. I wish I had known that the smallest action is better than the noblest intention.

17. I wish I had known that “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle

18. I wish I had known that being positive and changing my thoughts could really change my life.

19. I wish I had known that the word “failure” doesn’t exist. There are only results which are learnings and step stones to success.

20. I wish I had known that there are no difficulties, only opportunities.

21. I wish I had known that effective communication is not a matter of fluency.

22. I wish I had known that PWS can compete with the best speakers and win speech contests.

23. I wish I had known that stuttering responds positively to humour.

24. I wish I had known that you must look for pleasure not for performance.

25. I wish I had known that I‘d write these lines one day. And I wish I would have known that I will speak one day with Jane Fraser and translate and publish two Stuttering Foundation books :-).

Laurent Lagarde’s blog is at www.goodbye-begaiement.fr and he is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoodbyeBegaiement