My personal acceptance only came when I became a father in my early 30s - I had to be an advocate and take care of my daughter (along with my wife of course) - I found this emboldened me and stutter or not, I had to make sure I communicated well with her doctors, daycare workers, etc. Things just got better - my speech became so much more fluent when I stopped caring about it/myself and focused on my family, job, etc. The biggest thing was my anxiety about potentially stuttering stopped as it didn't matter anymore - fluent or not, I had to speak. 18 was tough man and I think many other people here will agree. I hope you have or will find good sources of support be it through speech therapy, family, friends, on-line communities, community/religious groups, etc. Anything that is positive and is a source of confidence is excellent - also, animals don't care if you stutter (I used to volunteer at the local animal shelter when I was younger and I found this therapeutic to talk to dogs as I walked them in public). Everyone has their difficulties in life and ours is that much more out in the open (that can be viewed both positively and negatively). Good experiences breed more good experiences and the only way to have good experiences is to keep getting out there and keep speaking. Good luck!