commentr/StutterJanuary 1, 2026

Content

With experience honestly. I’m a 32M and have stuttered my entire life. My younger years were the absolute worst I was fortunate enough to join the Air Force at 20 and I was in a job that was customer service centric. That honestly helped me so much. I medically retired at 30. My stutter made me independent. I was raised around violence, drugs, and gangs so street smarts were always there. I was never really confident to talk but my looks gave me confidence. Not saying I’m the best looking man but I’m attractive. There may be a point in time where you just say fuck it and let it be because your stutter isn’t going anywhere. Took me until I was 28. My stutter is more mild now. Medium when I get nervous. When I was 27, I met this 18 year old female at a kids party. I was talking to my now ex wife and she came up to me and was like “do you stutter”?! She was so excited because she’s never met anyone that did. She had a pretty bad stutter. No one in her family had it. My dad and I are the one that stutters. She was filled with so many questions. Her parents didn’t understand her and they just wanted her to stop letting it hold her back. Easy for them to say when you’ve never had this debilitating speech impediment. I told her the things I had mentioned above. She was an attractive female but she wasn’t confident, understandably so. She was on the right track because she was a cashier at chic fil a. She had way more balls than I had at that age because j could have never. If you shelter yourself, your stutter will never improve. It will continue holding you back. I understand you when you say you have so much fire inside. I’ve always had that and I would always say I’m”if I didn’t have a stutter, I would be doing this, this, and this. I would be talking all over the place”. Well that was never gonna be the case for me. Lastly, I met a jiu jitsu instructor that had a stutter. Like the 18 year old female I met, I was filled with so many questions. All he told me was you just have to say fuck it and talk. Who gives a a fuck what they say. They are a nobody. If they laugh, then fuck em. When I was in my mid twenties, a mentor of mine told me, when you are in a position of power, just talk and they will listen. I never understood that until i entered a position of power three years ago.

Themes

Causes & VariabilitySchool & WorkSocial & RelationshipsIdentity & DisabilityCoping & Advocacy

Subthemes

Severity & FluctuationEmployment & CareerQuality of LifeAcceptance & PrideSelf-Advocacy & Boundaries