The Stuttering Photographer and Elizabeth Halford

Starting a business is hard. You have to think about the ins and outs of how it will function.  In the beginning it's just you - so there is much more to think about and you write lists and there's advertising and marketing to think about.  Maybe even investors!  THEN - if you're a SAHM, you have to figure  out your business plus your family life!

It's enough to drive a person mad!

All this before you've even thought about how you're going to actually approach people, because let's face it - it's so much easier to just sit behind a screen and type / edit away (I mean I am a playwright) - but there is something about person-to-person interactions... (they're rare in this day and age).

With that said, I was really happy when I came across Elizabeth Halford, an American photographer living in Great Britain.  Her blog has been quite helpful as I think and create the intricacies of my new baby photography business (Like us on Facebook / GarBaby's Photos - Shameless plug...).  Elizabeth has ptosis and does "Vlogs" on YouTube.  After "Vlogging" for a while, she received a lot of questions about her left eye (video below).

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG0wgHXubFE]

After watching Elizabeth's video, I mentioned her in a tweet!  I understood absolutely everything that she was saying!

You see - I stutter - I have since I was 5 and well, it's just a part of my everyday life.  Living as a person who stutters has had an absolute effect on the way I think about things and interact with people.  It is so innate, that some of my behaviors might seem unorthodox to others, even though they make complete sense to me.

Here are a few examples:

• I rarely introduce myself and if I am in a groups of people, I will wait for someone else to say my name.
  
  
  
  • This may give the impression that I view myself in such high regard that I need to be introduced, and while I do have pretty good self-esteem, I certainly do not think I am above telling another person my own name, I'd just rather not take 25 minutes to do it.
  
  
  
  


• I switch words in the middle of sentence if necessary.
  
  
  
  • If I can think of something that is easier to say, I'll say it.  For example, I prefer "spectacles" over "glasses" - the Glottal "g" is not one of my better sounds (and with a name like "G"arlia - you wonder why I don't introduce myself often...).
  
  
  
  


• I prefer not to argue.
  
  
  
  • Any sort of confrontation is hard and I avoid it like the plague ... WHY?  Because arguments are quick and people say things sharply that sting... but I normally come out of them more frustrated because I never actually said what I wanted because maybe I word-switched or just gave up.  The more stress / Frustration, the more I stutter... the more anyone who stutters will stutter.
    
    
    
    • I have witnessed James Earl Jones not argue... and he stutters.. that is his way to keep everything under control...
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

If you watched Elizabeth's video - she talked about not letting your "thing" (ptosis, impediment, etc...) stop you from sharing your gifts with the world.  She spoke about how God made you who you are and that is a wonderful gift to share with the world.

Her words meant a lot to me.  And while I have never let my speech get in the way of doing what I need to do, maybe it was a boost for me.  It certainly is a wonderful message that I thought was important to share.