You sound like you’re doing it right in terms of dealing with it. Yeah it can be really effortful. You might want to make a post asking that. Personally when I first got speech therapy and was taught how to use ‘tools’ (such as sliding into words, almost singing your words out, soft speech etc. assuming that’s what you mean?) I used them for a while (aged 10ish) but I’ve long stopped using them. Not really sure why, but for me I don’t really like the way they make me sound. I’d genuinely rather just stammer, and focus on relaxing and being confident as ways to improve my speech.