This is a very difficult question for me to answer. My feelings about my stutter is complicated, and nothing about it is positive. Looking back, my stutter did it's best to ruin my teenage years. I was so shy. I didn't want to talk to anybody. School was sometimes a nightmare. But what I will always remember the most is the *shame.* I hated my stutter so much I didn't want it to exist, and would do anything to not admit that I actually had a problem. In my later teenage years, I took speech therapy. Every so often, I would be given homework. Something I was supposed to do with a friend. I never once did it. Even though my best friend had known me for years and obviously knew I stuttered, I couldn't do it without admitting I had a problem. That I wasn't *normal.* I had let go of that shame by the time I was in my twenties and mostly came to terms with it. Once that happened, I found I stuttered less. I now work a job that involves meeting new people frequently and answering phones, both of which used to be terrifying to me. But still, it causes me so much frustration. In casual conversation, I have to decide if what I want to say is truly going to be worth the effort if I feel a block coming on. I have had to accept that there are certain things I will just never be able to do because of it. As a kid, unused to dream of becoming a pilot, and is still something I would love to get my license for, but it will never happen due to my inability to guarantee fluency on the radio. Even going through a fast food drive thru can be an exercise in sheer frustration. Stuttering is something that I've mostly learned to live with, but would gladly do without.