I am 27 well I am not financially independent yet and still feel like a kid a lot of the times but my stutter got better a lot like the others. I remember feeling like you do when I was 17 myself and looking at an Internet forum for support. During young days the pain feels raw and looking back, there was probably no way around it. You seem to be so much luckier than I was, because you sound polite and mature and get lots of warm replies and I am sure you are a cool kid. Well long story short I somehow got a Masters Degree and moved to Canada from my home country and met a great girl who is fun and down to earth and not at all embarrassed by my stutter. She accepts me just as I am. One thing I got to realize as I grow old: There are so many types of people who stutter and it's just a challenge sometimes debilitating, yes, but not much more. The other facts of life apply to us as well: and this itself is reassuring. You are still you, and only you get to define you.