My best friend realized my stuttering bothered me 7 years into our friendship. An ex-gf realized it bothered me 3 years into our relationship. 99.99% of people never did. It killed me inside every second of it, and I spent most of my solitude either horrified of it or seeking means to escape it. We are well built for terror, my friend. If there's anything good to come of it, it's our resolve being forced to adapt to multiple times its baseline. "The Lord God has given me     the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word     him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens;     he awakens my ear     to hear as those who are taught. 5 The Lord God has opened my ear,     and I was not rebellious;     I turned not backward. 6 I gave my back to those who strike,     and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face     from disgrace and spitting. 7 But the Lord God helps me;     therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint,     and I know that I shall not be put to shame."