woah, we are brothers from another mother! i am also 30, male, life-long stutterer, and i started a new job in june. boy, it was (is) tough -- meeting tons of new people, new environment, my blocking got worse. i felt pretty insulated and comfy in my previous post. this is the thing that happened with me, let me know how it went with you -- the weight keeps piling up on you as you keep "pretending" to be a fluent speaker and then ... after awhile .. you just give in and let yourself float. alright already, i'm a stutterer! so #@*&( what?!!?! once i changed my attitude from trying to save face and keep the charade up to saying in my brain "look, i'm a stutterer, the stutter isn't going to kill me or the person i'm talking to", my anxiety dropped significantly and, ironically, i was able to start working on improving my communication skills. admittedly, this attitude maybe can't be carried confidently towards supervisors, but i'm glad that i can just say what i want and i can put the blinders on a little bit. how do people at your job regard your stuttering? i've had some hiccups or kind of strange responses but people are generally pretty cool about it where i work. i mean, look, it's kind of a disability, this thing isn't my fault, and i'm a nice, cool, and personable person. i don't try to shy away from saying hi to people in the hallway. i had a great conversation with a colleague earlier today about brewing beer, i made plans to eat lunch with two people this week, we are having people over at our house this weekend. am i going to stutter? yep, you betcha! i'm old enough now that i'm not expecting some miracle to wash over me tomorrow. but, i work on employing speech techniques while continuing to keep a good, confident voice and trying my best to not avoid or be covert. anyway, feel free to PM if you want to chat more. good luck!!!