Firstly, I had a strong resolve not to dwell on my stutter. I had go to's for stuttering and it didn't matter on what, where, who, why, it was all the same, a stutter was a stutter to me, so that part was resolved. A little breath out with sound and then talk while the airwaves are forced open in that moment. That was my go to for a hard block, particularly in the beginning. Over time I began to intuitively stop myself from pushing through blocks, but rather buying time when I felt one incoming or even if I got stuck in one, I learned not to push it and go down that road, but just try again without a thought to what I'm gonna say, I just began realizing that once I went down the broken road when something threw me off, there was no sense in compounding it and carrying it along with me. In my eyes it was just a blip of anxiety, almost like a blip of post traumatic stress so as I was trying again or regulating my pace to buy time, my thought was more with calming myself down than how I'd get anything out. I knew worrying over how to talk just compounded the issue rather than solve it in any way. Eventually, I learned to talk more from the heart than worrying over what I'd say. Going back to the first sentence. Since I knew what I'd be doing when I'd stutter, the biggest challenge for me was not to dwell on my stutter. No avoiding, no substitution, just if it comes, it's nothing new, and the more comfortable I am, especially afterwards, the more people tended to just mirror me and happily not give a damn with me. It felt more like mumbles than stuttering that way because just I didn't care, my resolve was too strong to dwell on it and beat myself up over something I couldn't control. I was getting really comfortable in my own shoes either way and focused more on other aspects of my life because focusing on my stutter was counter productive anyway. It was hard at first. But when I began waking up remembering how I stuttered the day before, i knew enough was enough. So it started forcing myself to think of something else and move on the next day. Then that translated to the same day, and then that translated into the moment. I just knew it was a waste of my time to worry over it and I genuinely got used to not giving it the time of day. I was actually able to stop taking everything else for granted. Over time, I believe the big improvements came from expanding my comfort zone with such a resolve. As I expanded my comfort zone, everything in it felt easy because the edge of it or outside of it might have been on my mind to expand and not shy away from. So maybe talking to a girl was more worrisome but then talking to anyone else felt easy, like I was at home. Then maybe talking to clients was worrisome and I had the resolve to work on it. But then talking to girls or anyone else felt like nothing anymore. My next comfort zone expansion made my previous ones obsolete and more irrelevant. And I think with time, you can get comfortable with anything. For instance, people going out to do a comedy sketch were probably nervous wrecks their first time out but over time it looks like it's a second home to them. It's more the prep work that's prob a chore to them. Same with sports. Why worry over the audience? Will that really help? Or will brushing anything off and moving forward help. Knowing not to dwell on the past, brush it off, and move on with confidence, resolve, and knowing you can work on that which you're uncomfortable at now. That's how I helped myself and managed it. It was around my early 20's that I realized I had to start over and look within. I couldn't find my answers from anyone else. The mind is a powerful thing and our resolve alone can go a long way.