Yall are fucking weird, that’s what it is. Not being ashamed of stuttering, and being proud of who you are (which includes stutter) is NOT a mental illness lmao get the fuck out of here Idk what I expected when I joined this sub. I’m 28 and I only met one person that stutters, and that was when I was already 21/22. Stuttering is fucking hard, it made my life hard, specially childhood. It made some dreams pretty much impossible to me (like theater and acting and careers that involve lots of talking). It made me pretend I was shy when I was young, because being shy was better than embarrassing myself. I was lucky to have a family that supports me and had patience with me, and pretty much everyone else in my life was, teachers, friends, bosses. I worked with the public for like 9 years. My first job was making/taking phone calls. It was my nightmare, but I still needed cause I needed money. Then I was a cashier at a restaurant, and had to speak ALL DAY every day. Today I work at something I like, I talk when I want to, people know I stutter but I never announced it. My boss is fine with it, and so are my coworkers. I’m married, have tons of friends, speak to my higher ups when needed, hop into calls and meetings when needed. Phone calls still cause me anxiety but guess what, so does a lot of things lmao I’m an anxious person. And so I learned how to do things even if/when I’m anxious. My point is, life can be hard when you stutter. You’ll go through bad moments, people won’t have patience with you, they may laugh at you, and you’ll feel a looooot embarrassment. Resentment, anger, sadness. I remember going to sleep and praying to god to please make me “normal” overnight so I’d wake up happy. But also, I’ve always had friends regardless of that. And I dated a fuck ton before meeting my husband. I’m sure I lost some jobs due to my speech, but I’m employed now which means it wasn’t a problem with my current job. I did an awesome presentation at college in front of a bunch of people, and the world didn’t end. The moment you stop having self pity and start looking at things that WORK OUT in your life, even with the stutter, that’s when you start not giving a fuck about it and go live your life. The majority of adults do not care that you stutter. Most people will not walk up to you and say “haha you’re a looser!” just because you stutter. Girls aren’t avoiding you because of it, they’re avoiding you because of annoying as fuck and super negative and they can smell the self pity miles away. Being proud of who you are is not a mental illness, it’s legit THE way to stop letting stutter dictate your life. Now, self pity, extreme negativity, not being able to see your flaws and only blaming stuff on that one thing you can’t control (stuttering), that might be a mental illness and a therapist is recommended.