18 Year Old Stutterer (My Success Story!)

18 Year Old Stutterer (My Success Story!) Hey everybody, I'm an 18 year old girl and I just wanted to share my stuttering story. I have been stuttering since I could talk, it became noticeable when I was 3 and my mom freaked out because she thought there was something wrong. I got sent to a speech therapist and I had been in speech therapy for 15 years before graduating from high school in May. My stutter has always been my insecurity, which sucks because I have an outgoing personality and I love to socialize. I also loved the arts. I had always wanted to be an actress, I knew people with stutters who acted and everything, but when I was in the 6th grade, I auditioned for a musical. The director told me I'd never be a successful actress because of my stutter. That's when I got into music. Music has always been an outlet for me, I self taught myself how to play multiple instruments and I'm actually recording an EP right now. But music was my way of standing out. Everybody in my school knew I stuttered, all the way until graduation. It became milder as I grew up, which has been a blessing. But it still always bothered me. I had successful relationships (all of which they said they thought my stutter was cute?? Anybody else have this??) and many friendships. Those who grew up with me and my stutter have always said it's never been an issue with them. As my senior year of high school approached, I got rid of a lot of my insecurities. Stuttering was one of them. I learned that it's a part of me, and part of my success story. Getting along with my stuttering meant that I had to learn how to explain that I stutter when I meet new people. So, when I did, and stuttered over a word, I'd always say, "Sorry, I can't talk sometimes. It's okay." and I'd just continue and people always took it well. And that became me learning how to make fun of myself. My current boyfriend makes fun of it sometimes, and I'm okay with it. I make jokes about my stutter all the time (a lot of the time, people don't know how to react. Which is funny in itself.) Having a stutter has never held me back, I've had 3 jobs, two of them were waitressing and bartending jobs (which involve a lot of communication) and honestly, I persisted through my speech impediment. I perform all over my state now, I want to give a TED Talk some day. I'm not ashamed of my stutter, it's who I am. I used to hate it, but it's a big part of my person. It makes me different from the rest. Please, if there's any other questions or anything feel free to ask. I love talking about my stutter, I'm open.