I once had a neighbour who was about sixty-five. I could not believe the way she lived life – she would rarely smile or say anything positive. She is called Nancy.

When I first moved to this particular area, I tried to make friends with the people who lived close to me, this was fairly easy as I sold front doors as well as offering a DVD authoring service for a living which was a kind of excuse for talking to them. When I first met Nancy she kept saying how ill she felt and about how her back was playing her up. I went away from this meeting feeling quite sorry for Nancy.

Around two weeks later I bumped into Nancy again. I enquired as to how she was doing on this bright and sunny day. I wish I had not bothered as I then had to listen to all of her problems. She did not have one happy thing to say. Over the next few years of living by Nancy, I actually went out of my way to avoid her.

I have to admit that I also used to feel sorry for myself. I had a stutter or what some people call a stammer which I had developed when I was a young child. I often used to wonder as to why I was given this problem. It did not seem fair to me as I believed I was a really nice person.

I lived with the stuttering problem until the age of twenty-two and then began to have a change of attitude. Instead of looking at people who I thought were more fortunate than myself, I started to read and hear about people who were far less fortunate.

When people ask me how I am, I always give a positive answer even if I feel terrible. I try and walk around with a smile on my face and am now living life to the full. I have also managed to overcome that horrible speech impediment and to therefore learn the ways to eradicate stuttering.

People like Nancy could do with having the same change in attitude and they may find they have more visitors to their house and that some of their ailments disappear.