I'm 37, and yes, middle school and high school were definitely the worst for me too. I literally didn't ever approach girls because of my speech, and let other girls take the reigns for taking initiative. I have wondered what my life would have been like if I could speak normally, and what potential jobs/careers I could have done if it hadn't been for my stutter. But you know what? Ruminating, wishing, wondering, trying to change things that you can't does absolutely nothing except spiraling downwards and having a fixed mindset. I truly believe I would have been a cocky person and my life could have taken a different direction for the worse (this makes me way more empathetic and contemplative than I might have been otherwise). People are also forced to listen to you more intentionally, which is certainly not a bad thing. I also have ADHD, which definitely makes my stutter worse, because I get overly excited about things and it puts my entire body into overdrive (walking faster, talking faster, overall excitability). I don't repeat sounds, but I do have blocks as my main source of disfluency, which has made phone calls really fun. You know what I have done in previous jobs in my early 20's? I was a goddamn door-to-door salesman, I've also done direct sales on the phone, and spent over 10 years doing experiential marketing which is face-to-face at events. Through yourself in the fire and just say fuck it. Do you want to spend the shortness of life wallowing in self-pity? I still have my bad days, of course, and there are still words that I cannot say without blocking for 10-15 seconds, but I try to not let my self-doubts and pity live rent-free in my head.