There’s no ‘magic pill’ for someone who stutters
Despite his stuttering, Pedro Pena has helped countless veterans with mental health challenges find and maintain jobs.
“My parents would always tell me to slow down. Because as a stutterer, when you are trying to speak, you want to get everything out in one breath. But you can’t really do that. And when you stutter, all of your organs are so tense that it’s completely exhausting. Your head hurts. Your chest hurts. And it feels that way for such a long time. So when you leave that situation, you’re just completely drained.
“I always held out hope that one day I would no longer stutter. But there is no magic pill. I just had to learn skills to help minimize things. Through all of the speech therapy, hypnosis and other things I tried — including a voodoo woman who said she could cure me with a chicken foot — I came to the realization that it’s just who I am. I’m almost 48 years old, and it has taken me such a long time to accept who I really am. I am Pedro. I stutter. Who cares? I love myself.”
— Pedro Pena
Check out his YouTube channel, My Stuttering Life.
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