The main problem with stuttering is that it gets worse when you fight it. You have to learn to accept it and that it’s not about you as a person. Look at it like this: some people have good eyesight, some are blind and some have eyes that do work but not as sharp as what it usually comes with. It is the same for stuttering but then with speech. Some can talk fluently, some can’t talk at all and some have trouble speaking. It is not your choice, it is not who you are but it can rule your life if you give it too much power over your life. Don’t get me wrong, when people pressure me to speak quickly I get all tangled up too. Try to keep your own steady rhythm when you talk and know that everything you feel while taking is just for you. Yes, the shame when you’re stuck at a word can be hard to swallow. But you have just as much right to live your life the way you want it to as the next person. If you ever find yourself in front of a food place, just say duck it and step in. You’re a man on a mission and you’re damn well going to succeed. Take it one word at a time and don’t allow the stutter to knock your legs from right under you. That said, do give yourself a chance to recover afterwards. It’s about tiny victories. I have a special knack for discord voice chat with strangers. Luckily I know that when I’m with my family on discord it’s okay. I have yet to cross the barrier into talking with strangers online, but know that many people struggle with that, also people that don’t stutter. I once read in a blog that a stutter is your worst enemy and your best friend. Worst enemy is obvious, but best friend because you can blame everything that failed in your life on your stutter. Didn’t get the job you wanted? Your stutter caused you to botch the interview. Hate how you have few friends? Your stutter is keeping you socially isolated. Starving yourself while on holiday? Your stutter is preventing you from ordering food or interacting with people. We, stutterers, are not sad people that need protection every single day. We are fighters, survivors and ultimately champions when we did what our stutter and ourselves prevented us to do before. But for you to win you need to first stop having pity on yourself and take up your weapons. Go to a speech therapy. If you can’t afford that practice hard words with your mom, slow and steady. When you stutter in public look them right in the eye when you do it, and be ducking proud of yourself that you’re such a madman that you don’t give a single shit about what they think of you. That said, do it in a relaxed way. Don’t fight the stutter, fight yourself and your tendency to hide from the daylight.