While attending school in Tamworth New South Wales I was selected to travel to Sydney and participate in a statewide leadership seminar. Having just become an Australia karate champion meant that I had the opportunity of travelling to Sydney to participate in a personal development initiative. The event was several days long, and excited teenagers arrived at the venue anticipating making new friends and gaining inspiration from the event. There were many seminars and presenters. My favourite was the comedy night, in which we listened to an exceptional comedian who caused me to laugh so hard that could barely contain my tears. Perhaps the biggest impact came from a man who was dressed poorly and acted extremely nervous. He stuttered and stammered and was doing a hopeless job of keeping the attention of the highly judgemental teenage audience. After immediately feeling empathy for this man, having dealt with my own nerves, fear and anxiety around speaking, I recall that I was annoyed at my disrespectful peers. Having dealt stuttering at the age of 14, I felt sorry for this man who was trying to deliver a talk and having what appeared to be distressed. To make matters worse, more students became restless and began to have private conversations….
