This past Tuesday the Dallas Chapter of the National Stuttering Association held it’s first monthly meeting of 2017 and it was a good one! Let’s have a quick recap of what happened:
To start off, the energy in the room was palpable! Everybody was happy to see each other after our last meeting in November– so long ago. Sure, we had a Christmas Party and couple Chat and Chews in between our last meeting, but still.
We started the year with a bang, with 29 people in attendance, including 7 first-timer PWS, and 4 SLP students. Special shout-out to our new, smiling faces: Michael, Shamal, Estrella, Ana, Tyler, Alex and Jamal. Welcome to the “stamily” (stuttering family)! We can’t wait to get to know you better.
Our meeting started with introductions, and to make it interesting we asked the question “What would you be in your next life?” and the answers were both insightful and hilarious. We had people saying they would be painters, pilots, NBA players, “a gorgeous guy”, golfers, dogs, “a piece of the universe”, birds, and even one “flying cat”. Too funny!
A few announcements followed, including a couple volunteering opportunities for PWS:
– Jan Lougeay, who teaches the “Stuttering” course at UTD, is looking for volunteers to be interviewed by her students this semester. This is a great opportunity for us as a group to help future SLPs understand stuttering. If you missed our last email or the announcement during the meeting, you can read about it here HERE. Please sign up!
– On the same note, Russ Hicks is putting together a panel to talk to TCU students in April and was asking for volunteers. Specific details to follow soon, just some “food for thought” in the mean time. Let’s educate, educate, educate!
We also talked about the upcoming conference in July here in our own backyard. We are just 6 months away and we couldn’t be more excited. The annual conference is the event of a lifetime, an incredible opportunity to spend a whole weekend surrounded by 800+ people who stutter from all over the world and be inspired by all the amazing stories, workshops, speakers… We could talk about it forever, but if you want to know all about it, just click HERE. Registration is now open, so take advantage of the early bird special!
With announcements out of the way we moved on to our topic of the night: “New Year, New Me: What I Will Accomplish This Year”.
The beginning of a new year is always a good opportunity to take a step forward in becoming the person you want to be. We talked about “SMART” and how to set attainable, measurable goals for yourself as this year progresses.
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time bound.
Specific.
If you want to hit a target, you need a target. You want to lose weight.. how much? You want to save money… How much? You want a car… what car? Having a specific goal takes ambiguity out of the equation and gives you a clear goal.
Measurable.
Having a specific goal makes it easy to measure your progress, there is no guessing. If your goal can be measured objectively, you increase your chances of success.
Attainable and Realistic.
Aim for the stars, but keep it real. It’s always better to start small and build from there than to set an unrealistic goal and have no idea how to get there.
Time bound.
Every goal needs a deadline. Without a deadline you are letting the door open for procrastination, and once it gets in, you are in trouble. Deadlines are there to keep you in track.
We split into small groups and everybody had an opportunity to share their goals and resolutions for 2017. We heard things from reading more books, to running marathons, to starting new business ventures from everyone. We have a group full of courageous and brave souls.
We could’ve continued talking for hours, but sadly, ran out of time and had to say good bye. The first meeting of 2017 was an undeniable success and if that is indication of anything, we are going to have an incredible year.
Be on the lookout for this month’s Chat and Chew info! Can’t wait to see you again soon.
Keep talking,
Dallas NSA