postr/StutterAugust 6, 2025

Big blunder, feeling defeated and deflated

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Big blunder, feeling defeated and deflated TL;DR: Loser couldn't say his own name, extreme effort and apparent progress proved futile, thinking about giving everything up. Throway account just to vent. Stuttering has always been my biggest obstacle in life. It has cost me opportunities in relationships, academics, and my professional life, you know how it is. Recently, however, I decided to take this problem head-on and not allow myself to be held hostage by this condition my whole life. Through speech therapy, breathing exercises, and self-confidence training, I've managed to greatly reduce the influence that stuttering has on my life and have been able to do many things that I always wanted to do but never had the courage to do because of this problem. Still, it's a major obstacle that prevents me from completely mastering these same things. Everything was going well, and I was confident in my progress. Until yesterday, on the first day of the new semester at college, the professor asked everyone's name, and when it was my turn, I couldn't do it; the words just wouldn't come out. It was terrible. I don't remember much of the rest of the class, and I can't imagine how red my face must have been. I was sweating and shaking, but I didn't have the courage to look at my classmates. I already couldn't fit in with the people in my class, and now no one will want to do group projects with me or include me in anything. These unpleasant situations are common for people who stutter, I'm used to it. But in this case, it was as if the situation had been set up to throw it in my face that I'll never get rid of it no matter how hard I try. The higher you climb, the harder you fall, as the saying goes. Now, I'm having a hard time finding any kind of motivation after this setback. I can't think of anything to keep me going. I love the subject I'm majoring in, and last semester my grades were the best in the class. But I just don't want to go to college anymore. Maybe I should go live in a tiny town in the countryside with my family and spend the rest of my life selling acerola at the market to barely survive and give up all this academic ambition. But that would prove a lot of people who doubted my choice right, so maybe I'll go live in a cave or something, or maybe I'll just kill myself. I feel cursed. I apologize if my writing seems disjointed; English is not my first language, and my thoughts are not yet well organized. If anyone can offer me some insight into this situation, I would appreciate it.

Themes

Anticipation & AvoidanceEmotional ExperienceSchool & Work

Subthemes

Feared Words & NamesAvoidance & SubstitutionFrustration & AngerSadness & HopelessnessHelplessness & AgencySchool & Academic Life