Person: asks a question. Me: stutters and responds to the question. Person: “oh, sorry.” That attitude is probably the hardest part of stuttering for me… when you can tell that people are afraid to talk to you, are visibly uncomfortable when talking to you, and apologize for talking to you. Whenever I meet someone who is not visibly uncomfortable when I stutter, I am so grateful to them that I want to cry. The only hope is knowing that people get more comfortable over time. And the only way to cope with it is to be extra friendly and try extra hard to make others comfortable. But that’s f*cking exhausting and sometimes you just can’t.