Thank you brother. For me, it took a while to realize how deeply ingrained these negative anticipation thoughts truly are. I developed them in early childhood, as I’m sure almost all of us did. For me personally I had to take actions that directly contradicted those negative assumptions and perceptions I had, not the actual anticipation of it but the negative connotation I associated with stuttering and the negative perception on myself as a result. Obviously I can’t pinpoint a sole cause of my stutter, but my self-esteem was deeply intertwined with it. I reached a point in my life where I became a lot more outgoing and social. I became a lot more comfortable talking to other people, even with my stutter. I would disclose it too. At first when I was younger I would attempt to compensate greatly for my own perceived negative perception of myself because of my stutter by making occasional self deprecating jokes about my stutter. I eventually learned that trying to compensate is just holding on to that negative perception in a different way. Nowadays I don’t really go out of my way to disclose it but when I get closer with someone I eventually ask them if they noticed I have a stutter. Back to your question; I became a lot more comfortable making friends, I developed a higher self esteem of myself. I still try to remain humble obv, but I acknowledge my accomplishments when I have them and I’m proud of myself for overcoming my hardships. I had to stop being embarrassed about myself and my stutter, but that took years for me to do and I still struggle with it occasionally, but I allow myself the grace to feel those feelings and then mindfully ground myself back to what works for me. This is what helps with the core of why I stutter. Giving myself a higher self esteem, and getting more social, talking to more people and making more friends. The negative anticipation you get before you stutter is just a *symptom* of something; something which results in stuttering. I acknowledged all my negative learned behaviors, and realized they were working against me. I asked myself why these negative behaviors were learned to begin with, and what kind of perceptions of myself it resulted in. And I took actions that directly challenged these negative behaviors and perceptions of myself. This is all deep though, and personal in a different way to everyone so it’s not easily applied. In terms of what someone can do today, here are some things that worked for me. 1. Starting out with a slight and barely noticeable “uh” sound before you start talking if you anticipate a block. If you stutter with S, it would be like “uh-SNAKE”. Not enough to sound like “a snake”, but enough to give yourself a bridge from another sound which makes it easier to cross. 2. Talking *with* your breath. Being more mindful of the pace of your breathing. Talking softer and trying not to force out words quick. I have ADHD so this was something I needed to do because as a kid I had racey thoughts and was always yapping lol. Slowing down and being mindful of your pace was important for me. Nowadays since I stutter much less I don’t need to focus on this as much anymore. 3. Daily meditation. I know that for many it’s a corny suggestion, but closing your eyes and clearing your mind and focusing on just your breathing for 15 min a day is incredibly impactful. You’d be surprised how much calmer you feel afterwards, for me I would feel more “collected” and mentally “put together” afterwards. One more thing, a strange phenomenon with myself is that I stutter much, much more around my family. I can’t pinpoint why but after writing this, I suspect it’s because I’m much more comfortable stuttering around my family than my friends or any other peers. So it’s not like I made myself comfortable stuttering around others. The perception I formed is so deeply ingrained that I doubt I’ll ever be able to willfully change that inner reflex, I still get uncomfortable and nervous. But I learned to fight the anxiety by embracing it, now that I’m a little older it’s easier to do than before. I don’t care as much if people have a negative perception of me, and that gives me a lot more room to have a positive perception on my social interactions.