I'm really struggling today and need some encouragement
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I'm really struggling today and need some encouragement Hey there everyone! This is my first time posting in this sub although I've been a lurker for awhile. I'm 24F, have been stuttering for about 15 years now and just feel emotionally exhausted and overwhelmed from having to deal with this disability and the mental anguish that comes along with it. I try to feel hopeful and have a positive outlook, and honestly, to break up the pessimism in this post, I actually teach group exercise classes and have been stuttering significantly less... so I know I'm making progress, but I'm still feeling down on myself today :( which makes me feel bad, because I know people have it much much worse, but I think I should still be allowed to say that not being able to speak the way I want to is exhausting AF. But still, I often can't help but wonder why me. Why did God, or whoever created me, want me to stutter while my family, friends, coworkers and peers get to just speak normally without constantly using techniques? What on earth did I do wrong to deserve to speak so "abnormally" and as a result, to have to feel misunderstood, isolated, and broken? I wish I could know a life free of disabilities. Even speech therapy hasn't helped that much. It's taught me some useful techniques, but constantly having to be hyper aware of these strategies is mentally exhausting. I feel like the only options for me are to not use techniques but to continue stuttering (which has caused me a lot of suffering, so obviously I don't want to do this) or speak more "fluently" (which makes my self esteem lower than it already is, and a lot of the techniques I'e learned just feel unnatural and forced) So I feel hopeless today. Again, I know people have it worse but I am truly so, so exhausted. I will keep on trying, but am just so resentful of the life I could've had that stuttering robbed me of. I'm hoping something good comes out of all of this eventually. I'm not a quitter, but that doesn't mean this journey is free of bumps in the road and self doubt.