Hi, my name is Jameyrae Valdivia, and I have a speech impediment.

I have what's called a stutter, and this causes me to talk with continued involuntary repetition of sounds, especially initial consonants. Also, in my case, words tend to get "stuck" in my throat prohibiting me from speaking.

My stutter used to be really terrible, and I had to go to speech therapy for a couple of years. Speech therapy helped me with my stutter a lot, that's for sure. However, whenever I get anxious, excited and sometimes just randomly, it can still come out. It gets really frustrating, and sometimes I just want to scream. Instead, though, when it's happening, I usually just have to stop, take a deep breath and start my sentence over while speaking very slowly, and maybe even finding new words to use.

When I was younger, before and while I was attending speech therapy, I got bullied a lot. Other kids mocked me and laughed at me, and it was pretty defeating. I felt alone often, and it was very isolating. Now most of my friends think it's cute, and tend to laugh with me even though I'm sighing with being upset and not enjoying my speech impediment. Though sometimes it gets to me, and I just want to pound my fists when I can't get a word out, my flaw will never hold me back from trying to be my best.

Public speaking is something I absolutely love to do. I write poetry and enjoy going to open mics. It's so much fun to me, even though one time, I could hear a girl laughing at me when I stuttered over a word or two. At first, it made me flustered, and caused me to stutter even more. But at the end of the day, I remembered that sometimes other people need to find enjoyment in other people's imperfections to feel better about themselves.

I also enjoy giving speeches, presentations and honestly just being the center of attention sometimes when, for example, I'm telling a great story to some friends. I'll never be held back from doing things that bring me joy. Right now, I'm going to college to work in a museum dealing with the public and creating exhibits. For a living, I'll be constantly meeting new people, talking about things I'm passionate about, and though I may stumble here and there, I'll never stop.

So what did I truly learn from my speech impediment? I'm a lot of things. I'm a go-getter, outgoing, passionate and adventurous. One thing I am not is my stutter. I don't let this one, simple flaw define who I am as a person. Instead, I push past it, not letting it hold me back, and if anything, I have it help push me forward. Don't ever let something that you feel clouds your greatness stop you from shining. Don't ever let anyone or anything put you down, and always bring yourself back up when they do. You can do anything your heart desires, and if you fail? Try again. If you're feeling defeated, make sure to surround yourself with a support system of wonderful friends and family. And lastly, don't you ever, ever give up. You can achieve anything you want, everything you want and acquire happiness, but you have to keep trying.