You said: "I accept stutter as part of who I am. When I stutter, I honestly and genuinely don't care anymore. This is my voice. This is how I communicate. Whether you like or not is up to you, I'm just gonna keep doing my things. It's only a stutter and not a sign of being nervous." \--> Thank you for your reply. \--> Your thought is: "I accept stutter as part of me, this is my way of speaking no matter what. Besides it's only a stutter." I don't stutter when I'm alone. I stutter when I add a person. In my experience, if I use YOUR thoughts (that you have written down), then I will stutter when I am alone. Argument: Because if I say "I accept stuttering as a part of me and it's my way of speaking" then I will 100% certainly expect a stutter, no exceptions. \--> In my experience, if I think this negative affirmation: "Stuttering is my way of speaking", then I expect a stutter. But, if I replace this thought with a positive affirmation "Fluency is my way of speaking", then I experience fluency. \--> I have 10+ negative affirmations (aka perceived stresses) and every time I have these thoughts, I immediately counter it with positive affirmations and then I experience fluency. "The acknowledgement that you have a speech impediment is a completely different story. In fact, the latter helps you reducing it significantly." \--> I agree, if you learn to not care that you stutter, then you have more control of your stutter in stressed situations. But as you've no doubt have noticed, acknowledging can be interpreted in different ways: a) A person accepts that he stutters (your view) b) A person accepts that he expects a stutter because of this and this perceived stresses (my view) So you and I both 'accept stuttering' but mine is constructive towards fluency because my positive affirmation is: Fluency is my way of speaking. Your positive affirmation (which is my negative affirmation) is: Stuttering is my way of speaking. "Embracing your stutter and developing the mental fortitude of not caring " \--> I agree but again you can interpret this in two different ways: a) One doesn't care that he stutters so it's okay to stutter or speak fluently (your view) b) One doesn't care about the stutter expectation so that it doesn't impact him to stutter (my view). Result: fluency Do you see the difference in our views? Mine is constructive towards fluency. For example: I don't stutter when I'm alone, but if I use YOUR affirmation "I don't care that I stutter" then in my experience I will expect a stutter. I can reach fluency if I counter this negative thought with this positive affirmation "I don't care about expecting a stutter because I will speak fluently". " I don't expect to stutter anymore." \--> In my opinion, all developmental stutterers expect a stutter right before they stutter. In my country the biggest stutter therapy confirms this; they did a research study on this. \--> This means that expecting a stutter in your case could be unconscious or you 'distract yourself' from observing expecting a stutter by focusing on something else. Most stutterers think it's not relevant to know what stutter expectation they have in which case they don't want to know if their mind is expecting a stutter. \--> In the biggest stutter forum is a poll: "Do you always expect a stutter, right before you stutter". And 99% voted for yes. "You ignore it, you don't make it a thing. You just move on." \--> I agree, one can approach the stressor by ignoring. Another approach is distraction, fading, changing (like positive talking, confidence, counter with affirmations), convincing and not caring. \--> In my experience, if I ignore my stressor then I experience fluency for 10 seconds, but then my stressor returns. It keeps returning after I ignore it, because ignoring is like putting my head in sand. Solution: so I should learn to not care about the stressor. For example, if I tell a non-stutterer that he should stutter for this and this stressor, then he just doesn't care so he doesn't let it impact him to stutter. It's the same with me, I don't stutter when I'm alone so even if I have stressors, I just don't care about them when I'm alone because I'm already convinced that I speak fluently when I'm alone, fluency is my way of speaking and I'm 100% certain that I don't stutter when I'm alone. It makes sense for me that I speak fluently when I'm alone. Do you have the same affirmations when you speak alone? Question: in your opinion, how can we learn to not care about this negative thought "I will stutter on this syllable or vowel" or "Stuttering is my way of speaking"? Conclusion: In behavioral psychology, if one learns a new habit and 'accepts' the incorrect habit (like stuttering instead of fluency), then they unconsciously create perceived stresses to expect stuttering. The mind works like this. So I focus on positive affirmations to believe in fluency in order to counter negative affirmations that I have: \- I can't speak fluently > I CAN speak fluently \- I will feel stuttering in my mouth because it's normal > I will feel fluency in my mouth In my experience if I replace those negative affirmations to positive affirmations, then I experience fluency. Question: what is your opinion?