January Meeting Recap

This Tuesday, the Dallas Chapter of the National Stuttering Association held it’s first meeting of 2018 and here’s a quick recap of what happened.

With 16 members in attendance, and one in virtual form (more on that later), we got together to celebrate the new year and have a good time. Our icebreaker question of the night was “What’s the best praise/piece of advice you’ve received?”.

The praises showcased we have some remarkable people in our group. Some examples are Shawn telling us that the best praise he has received is the fact that his kids “genuinely like him”, and Briana shared that her boss recently told her “I wish there were clones of you!”. On the side of advice, here are the Top 5 pieces of advice from our NSAers:

5. Be a reliable employee.
4. Do your best, no matter the circumstance or outcome.
3. Buy low, sell high.
2. You are good the way you are.
1. Be as wonderful as your dog thinks you are.

The last person to introduce himself was our very special guest, and that was the one and only Bernie Weiner. Bernie is a veteran of the NSA that lives in Detroit. He was able to join our meeting via FaceTime. The future is now!

Bernie has recently experienced some severe health complications, but “as a cat with 9 lives” (his words), he is refusing to give up and is now making a strong comeback. If you are reading this Bernie, we would love to have you back anytime! Keep fighting!

With that, we moved on to announcements, and here’s a quick summary:

* Our 1-Day Workshop scheduled for last weekend had to be cancelled. It was a difficult decision, but we will continue trying to bring you more fun events in the future.
* Brett Cunningham is going to be starting monthly Dallas NSA Google Hangouts. Want to be part of our meetings live too far away? Here’s your chance to join us from every corner of Texas! Be there on the second Sunday of every month for this special treat. More details in a few days!
* We have two upcoming panels about stuttering at UNT (Denton), and UTD (Dallas). These are great opportunities for all of us to step out of our comfort zones, and more importantly, to help future SLPs understand stuttering. We need volunteers to come share a little bit about their experiences living with stuttering, and be part of a quick Q&A. It might sound intimidating, but we guarantee that you are going to love the experience. The details are:

First Panel–UNT.
Date: Monday, February 12th, 7:30-8:30PM
Location: UNT campus in Denton.
5-8 people needed.

Second Panel–UTD
Date: Monday, March 5th, 3-5PM
Location: Callier Center, in Dallas.
8-12 people needed

If you are interested in being part of this (and we really hope you are!), contact David at deividmx@gmail.com.

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Our theme of the night was Obstacles and Setbacks: What Do You Do When Things Don’t Go According To Plan?

Nobody likes obstacles, rejection, or failure, but they are all an inevitable part of life… so what can you do when luck doesn’t go your way? Everybody experiences setbacks, but the difference between people that give up, and people who keep trying until succeeding is a combination of resilience, optimism, and determination. Sometimes a little “mindset adjustment” can go a long way, and we all shared stories about how sometimes not getting what you want can turn out to be learning experience, or even better: a blessing in disguise. The importance of “growing through experience”, accepting that “change is good”, and that “it’s not always about your stuttering” were some of the important lessons shared by some of our members, and by the end of the meeting a sense of optimism was in the air.