I think it takes a lot of cognitive restructuring to reduce your anxiety around the stuttering. Instead of “oh no!”, you eventually switch to “that would suck if it happened”, to “if it happens it happens”, to not even thinking about it anymore. Easier said than done, as I’m still on the second one, but using common thought altering techniques (re: CBT) to be proactive in your thinking, as well as reflecting on the situation after it’s done and judging if your predictions came true and what it means for you, is important. It’s crazy to me how many thoughts you can have in the second before you open your mouth. You’d be surprised how many negative predictions you’re thinking of as you’re going through the motions and anxiety. I totally get what you mean though about the ingrained language. I’ll spontaneously ask someone a question perfectly, but if they didn’t hear me and say “what?”, I’m fucked. The stutter activates ™ I also think it’s important to acknowledge that it’s okay to relapse and have bad anxiety days or weeks. Temporary set backs are apart of life as long as you keep seeing the big picture. Shit happens!