Yes! I'm a covert stutterer as well and have had similar experiences before. I suppose recently I've decided to cut back on my asocialness (is that even a word?) and force myself to talk more. I think gaining friends with mutual hobbies/interests really helped, especially interests that I genuinely enjoy discussing. Like, with shooting pool or working on cars/motorcycles, I seriously can talk all day about it and just having the *right* friends to talk among really helps. This probably sounds weird, but taking ASL classes helped too. I have gained a couple of friends who are deaf/HOH and I can communicate with them without any risk of stuttering, haha. We tend to go out to bars/clubs and just have a good time.