Early on in life we start to develop ideals about the world, how we envision our future, how our life is going to be. As we mature, those ideals can start to change. Sometimes our stuttering impacts these ideals. It challenges our beliefs, our wants and can change the path in life we choose to take. This is not necessarily a bad thing – it means we have changed our ideal of "normal".
Even now, in adulthood, I still struggle with what it means to fit into the "norm".
What I've learned in all this is that there is no "norm". All of us at one point or another have struggled to find our own path in life and be contented with it. The mere ability to be able to accept the things we cannot change and work to change and improve on the things we can is significant. In seeking that journey I've learned the most from my own ideals. For at the end of day we are all different, and our paths are different. For me the hardest yet most rewarding thing as a person that stutters is the acceptance that it is okay to be different, it is okay to not follow the social norms, that at the end of the day I'm the one that's living my life.
Those individuals who have been outside the "norm", that have taken the road less travelled, are the ones who have made some of the most significant impacts in society. It llies within each of us to create, no matter how small, large or insignificant we may feel those impacts maybe.
Itt's the realization that it's ok to be different, to carve out our own path and be contented in it without fear of judgement or ridicule from others. For at the end of the day the opportunity to seek out and create our own ideals lies with in each of us.
Rich Lutman lives in Stratford and is on the CSA board of directors.