Pedro has spent many years in speech therapy, learning breathing techniques, meditating, and studying personal development. He shared with me the incredible amount of energy and time many people who stutter spend on just getting through the day. For example, before going to a drive-thru, he may spend up to thirty minutes deep breathing and practicing his order. It may take him 40 minutes to record a voicemail, and he has actually passed ou<\/span>t in interviews, on sidewalks, and even cancelled job interviews out of fear. Many nights, he would return home from work and just crash on the couch from mental and emotional exhaustion.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Then, four years ago, after reading books by personal development leaders Les Brown, John Maxwell, and Mel Robbins, Pedro had a mindset shift. <\/span>\u201cI mean for a lot of us, we had to fight we had to fight every, every hour, every minute, every second. We have to fight. Growing up, I wanted to be like everybody else. I wanted to be with the \u2018in\u2019 crowd. I wanted to hang out and be with everybody else. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t. And so later in, in life, I learned I’m different. I’m different, and different is okay. Different is cool. I said, \u2018I’m done. I’m done.\u2019 I said, \u2018That’s it. I don’t care anymore. I don’t care if I stutter. I don’t care if you make fun of me. I don’t care if you laugh at me, mock me, tease me. I just don’t care.\u2019 And once once I told myself that, everything lifted. I mean, decades of shame, guilt, anguish\u2026 everything just left me. And here’s the cool part: once I did that, and said, \u2018Okay, Pedro stutters. I love Pedro. I am confident in Pedro,\u2019 everything changed. People tried to tell me that fluency equals confidence. Actually, it doesn’t. I am confident from within.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Pedro took a giant leap of faith and started a YouTube channel to help other PWS feel less isolated and alone. Ultimately, that resulted in his desire to start a podcast. Again, there were people in Pedro\u2019s life who tried to get him to give up on his dream, saying no one would want to want to listen to someone who stutters on the radio.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pedro began learning about podcasting anyhow, crediting Dave Jackson\u2019s School of Podcasting and David Hooper of Big Podcast for getting him started on his podcasting path. Two years ago, he recorded the first episodes of his podcast, <\/span>My Stuttering Life<\/span><\/i>, in his SUV, on his phone! Now, he receives messages from listeners around the world who thank him for his positivity and inspiration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This past March, after four months of breathing exercises, practice, and preparation, Pedro spoke on stage at Podfest. He admits to being extra nervous, having learned that his mentors, Dave and David, would be in the audience. Still, he triumphed over the fear, and now, Pedro, who was once afraid of being in the limelight, has a bigger goal of becoming a TedX speaker!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pedro\u2019s podcast featu<\/span>res only guests who stutter. And now, thanks to Pedro\u2019s inspiration, two of his former guests have started their <\/i>own podcasts, as well!<\/h2>\n

\u201cAll those years of growing up with a severe stutter, and people calling you \u2018stupid,\u2019 and \u2018slow,\u2019 and and people constantly telling you that you’re never going to get a job; you’re never going to get married; you you will never have a career. Just stay home and apply for disability, and that will be your life. I heard that for years and years and years. And, you know, once you hear that, you tend to believe it. But I said, \u2018No!\u2019 And with with with podcasting, I am using a new audio medium with an audience from around the world. And to, to, to read the emails from people I don’t even know, from Pakistan, from Brazil, from Australia, that my podcast is their light in, in their dark world. I mean, I mean, that just has a profound, a profound impact.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Pedro and his podcast are a light for people experiencing stress, fear, and isolation. His courage, humor and creativity will inspire anyone to move forward with his or her dreams and goals!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many of us, it was Porky Pig who introduced us to stuttering, also known as stammering. The original voice actor (circa 1935), Joe Dougherty, was a person who stutters (PWS), and even after he stopped being the voice of the famous cartoon character, the stutter remained. The facts:\u00a0 According to The Stuttering Foundation (www.stutteringhelp.org), more than 70 million people (approximately 1% of the world\u2019s population) stutter. In the United States, there are approximately three million PWS. This speech disorder can begin as early as two years of age, and males are four times as likely to be afflicted than<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":8606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[220,222,223,219,221,224],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n