I agree both with the positive people and op. It's truly great to hear about successes but sometimes you just want to vent and people to accept that life can be shit because of it without trying to make it sound better. I see a good ratio of positive outlook and healthy commiserating in most mental health subs but this sub is has so much positivism ( except the occasional breakdown posts ), it can be great but it also can feel forced after a while. I understand we all have different ways to cope but I would like to hear about these victories AND of the hellish episodes without trying to diminish the trouble, as if the trauma is not real, non PWS already make us feel like that so we at least should accept each other's troubles as they are from time to time. There are different levels of stutterers so what a person can achieve within a year of trying hard could possibly never be attainable for another person, there are people who do their absolute best but still can't put two sentences together and others that can do presentations if in the right mental state, and a lot of people that experience both depending on the day. We don't know that much about stuttering yet and I think that being overly positive and trying to fool ourselves and others into believing that we don't have troubles actually prevents the understanding, if you don't complain nobody will help you. A person might crawl because there's no other choice but that's not normal, you should get help when you have trouble functioning, a lot of people can't get jobs and can't have a social life because of it but others will just say suck it up and try harder while it isn't that easy for most, sometimes we just need someone to understand us and tells us that it's okay to feel bad. In short, I think we need ( psychologically and ideally in this sub ) a balance where we try to have a positive outlook but also recognize that life can be shit and we might never get better but just accept it and ask for accomodations if we need to, it's that hazardous.