It made my life hell growing up and when I was in my nation's Army as a Combat Medic/Paratrooper. Now I'm at the point in my life where I can stutter and not really care. I'm currently an adjunct professor at my local university. I stutter infront of class rooms full of students and still get the respect I deserve. I work life-support as a respiratory therapist and still keep people breathing throughout the night. One thing my stutter has helped me with is I'm able to empathize and relate with people who cannot speak. Most of my patients are tracheostomy patients or they're intubated. This means that they are on a ventilator, and they cannot speak. I'm able to help them through this transition of going from being fully fluent, to not being able to make a sound. I'm able to help them learn how to communicate in ways that I couldn't for so long, and treat them with the respect they deserve. My key to my success, I believe, is a mixture of self-confidence, years of speech therapy, and accepting the fact that stuttering sucks like most disabilities. That being said, disabled people achieve all sorts of remarkable things throughout their lives. I take inspiration from the Special Olympians who overcame adversity to perform on the world stage at a level beyond most able bodied people. If they can find a way to push past the pain and find greatness, then so can I despite my stutter, spinal injuries, and old war injuries. Stuttering sucks. There is no way around it. It's ok to feel down about it. It still hits my pride at times. Take a moment to feel your emotions. Then, let them pass. Stuttering may suck, but it's not a death sentence. It just means that we have to be tougher than the average person. You're tough OP!