This pictures serves a very deep message A message I dont think I have fully digested.  I think, me writing my thoughts will help it digest. You can follow my thought journey if you like. At first glance I noticed The shield he is behind is a mask. The mask that he wears to protect himself Then I noticed He had 1 arrow in his arm. This man was hurt 1 time and immediately started living behind a mask. Then I noticed He was extremely upset behind his mask “shield”  He is holding a handle and is in full control of the mask being there or not.  But something next level is what I noticed next The mask “shield” is pointed the wrong way.  Whether this was intentional or not, This serves a powerful flippin message.  And the message can 150% without a doubt be related to you and your stutter.  We were hurt one time. No, we were hurt more than one time. We were hurt a bunch of times. So what did we do?  We stopped expressing our ideas We stopped expressing our jokes We stopped expressing our personality  We stopped expressing who we truly fvcking are inside. And that's the mask “shield”. Now we don't express ourselves at the risk of being hurt so that we can continue to stay sad underneath our mask. Not only that but the mask is pointed in the wrong direction!  Meaning you are actually blocking yourself from freedom in one direction and leaving yourself more vulnerable to being hurt from the other.  It's the ultimate false sense of security.  While you are wearing this mask you think you are safe. You don't have to take any risks right. You can stay comfortable underneath it all.  But you see that will only leave you susceptible to being hurt even more often! Because in order to uphold this mask “shield” you need to be holding back. You need to be holding back: Emotions Thoughts Your authentic character  And since you are holding back these things, that ultimately means you’ll be repressing them. You'll be repressing: Anxiety Embarrassment  Doubt Shame Anger rage And so on. Because all these emotions are repressed and held within your body, you will literally be attracting these types of scenarios to you. You will view ordinary situations and anxiety ridden. You will start to view everyone as a dark judgement monster. You will get embarrassed at the flip of a hat.  You leave yourself vulnerable to thinking these thoughts and feeling these emotions that you don't want to feel because you “feel more safe” living a life that isn't you. Causing the biggest pain of all to seep into your thoughts everyday. The pain of unrealized potential.  You have a fvcking amazing personality. I know you do. You know you do. But something has been stopping it from shining. It's the mask you wear. That you are in full control of at all times. Dropping the mask will actually allow you to express yourself. It's impossible behind the mask (look at the picture).  Once you are able to start expressing your true authentic personality you are on the path to overcome your stutter. Your stutter is your mask. Your stutter is holding back. Your stutter is repressing.  But your stutter is not you.  Art by: sakoasko