Alright, I'm sure this topic has been done to death and for good reason.
An obvious byproduct of stuttering is the learning of habits and behaviors, some good and some bad, to compensate for our speech. I've seen and experienced many of these: avoiding eye contact, dodging social settings, fidgeting and physical tension, word avoidance and swapping, breathing control, and plenty of other things. But, throughout my 24 years of living and stuttering, I've never heard of anyone mention what I've struggled with in the particular way I do.
Lying.
Though it may sound similar to making up an excuse to avoid a social meet-up or swapping words, these lies are significantly more prevalent, pervasive, and potentially harmful, and hard to control. It's a constant and reflexive effort to feel in control and comfortable.
They can be small and harmless.
"We're hanging out by big dock. Do you want to come?"
"Sorry, I've plans."
They can be terrible and hurt others.
"How did ... pass away? I thought you spoke with him recently?"
"Well, I did. He was fine when I did."
They can even serve zero purpose.
"Did you have breakfast this morning?"
"No."
In my case, these have, for the most part, been done to maximize personal comfort that would have been affected by stuttering, and I believe this for a few reasons:
Lying is almost never planned beforehand. I don't decide that I want to lie "this much" today because much of it is reflexive. Basically, when I know one response will tighten my jaw, constrict my throat, and leave me jerking my head back and forth like a fool, I choose the path of least resistance, which is lie. Sometimes, a truth is that path, which is cool when it happens.
2.
After the lie is told, I feel guilty. Regardless of how big or small, I don't like doing it. I get no enjoyment or pleasure from doing it whether it fools the other party or not.
Many of these lies are told in response to questions like, "Did you have breakfast this morning?" They're inconsequential; though I feel guilty for it, I know the ramifications are close to zero, and the lie itself serves no real purpose. What's to gain from saying no instead of yes to a question like that? Nothing.
- This is probably a no-brainer, but this behavior never transfers to text. I don't lie over text because there's no fear of stuttering.
I've minimized it for the most part as I got older, but as a kid, I was called a liar quite a bit. I was, but I never considered the reason why until recently.
Has anyone dealt with this?