I think many young stutterers are struggling with the pain of stuttering and feeling so uncertain of their future. How can I be taken seriously when I stutter? Will I ever find companionship? If I even can manage in my education, will I be able to find employment and succeed in my chosen field? What can do; every time I speak there’s that look of horror on the face of listeners when I block and my face contorts. I can't stand that look. How do I even dare open my mouth? I think the most desperate posters are the younger ones who have not come to terms with their stuttering and believe their lives will never be fulfilled because they are not currently fluent. There are degrees of fluency and many posters on this sub report changes in their fluency throughout their lives; even normally fluent individuals report occasional dysfluencies. It's the stutterers who manage to accept themselves and their speech, who offer the most hope for a normal, fulfilled life, though they may still have not achieved full fluency. I'm a female stutterer who graduated from university, married well, raised remarkable children, and at the age of 70 gained fluency. In spite of my unhappiness as a child and youth, my life was successful. It behooves us, mature stutterers, to give hope for a full life to younger stutterers who lack hope for their futures.