I came here for the same reason, and just submitted my first post yesterday! It's helpful for me to know I'm not alone and can connect with others who have had very similar experiences. I think your post on reddit is a great place to start, and it sounds like you've reached a point where you're tired of where you are in life ... the first step (I believe) is wanting to change. So, I'd love to talk with you! I'm a fairly covert stutterer, but really beat myself up when a word slips. However, if I'm having a shitty day, and my confidence is shot, I feel like it's impossible to form any kind of recognizable word and decide to speak as little as possible for the day. I've had speech therapy when I was in high school, my 'therapist' wasn't really effective for me but I do believe there are speech language therapists who can make a huge difference. I've been to a meetup with 2 fluent speakers and 1 stutterer (my first experience with another person who stutters) and it was really great for me. Depending on where you live, there may be an NSA (National Stuttering Association) chapter with people who have, or have studied, stutters. Both my Mom and sister have a stutter and we all have differing levels of fluency. Outside of my family, I know or meet very few who do. It was incredibly difficult for me open up and I felt very alone, and trapped. The first time I told 2 of my high school friends they didn't see it as an issue at all. It took me years to talk to my boyfriend about it, and he was super supportive. However, I now use him as a crutch to do my speaking when I feel like I'm having a crap talking day. And that's had a bit of a strain on our relationship. We also have a very successful therapist friend who has talked to me about my stutter. His advice is we all have a thing we hate about ourselves - his eyes are close together and people call him the cyclops, and he also has an inability to physically eat various foods, my boyfriend has pectus excavatum, my sister in law is naturally big ... and we all hate our thing. I may think my case is special because talking should be natural and fluent, we talk every day and need to be understood to live and survive ... but everyone has their thing that has an impact on their life that keeps them from living the way they want. I also have a big issue with anxiety, mostly driven by stutter related experiences and thoughts, that keep me from being more open about it. I want to be more open, my anxiety makes it nearly impossible. The first step is just telling someone, no matter their reaction (which will most likely be positive) ... then you've told someone and you can start there. Just remember they also have their thing, and to quote Tropic Thunder - it ain't nothing but a thang.