That’s it exactly. Even here, on this thread, one poster (the person means well) said that I need to face my fear. To me, this is rude and pretentious (no offense intended). Why do I suddenly need some stranger’s advice on how I plod ahead in my life? How do they know that I haven’t faced this fear for YEARS with virtually zero result but more frustration and no real change? That is the case. I’m not a spring chicken. I’ve been around the block a few times. I’ve been through so many different therapies and approaches to stuttering, and nothing really changes at all. At BEST, the most effective therapies simply help you to accept your stutter. They don’t do much to alleviate it. The leading experts in the field know there are no cures or methods that work all that well. But total strangers suddenly jump out of the woodwork, talking like they know you, they’ve known you for years, and suddenly they know exactly what you need to do. I can honestly say that I have never done this to anyone who has posted about any kind of problem. How could I possibly tell YOU what YOU need to do when I don’t even know you, don’t know your history, don’t know what you’ve experienced, what you’ve been through? I can’t. What I almost invariably do is to just validate their feelings, give a bit of encouragement, and tell them about my own experience. I don’t come off as some expert or wizened old guru who’s figured it all out. “You need to face your fears!” - How rude. How would such a person know that the other person has NOT faced their fears, and it just didn’t change anything? The ones who annoy me the most are the very proactive activist stutters who proclaim that I somehow have some obligation to never even TRY to be fluent, that I should always OPENLY stutter with no resistance...despite the fact that there are jobs, vocations, career paths where this would be PROFESSIONAL SUICIDE. And even if not, I never want to “make friends” with my stutter. It is a stumbling path before me, standing in the way of my goals. Just as a person who struggles to walk will always use methods to help them walk like others...so I will also use methods that will help me navigate conversations with fluency and confidence. Openly stuttering will never be a part of that equation.