> Okay so here's a q - how do you accept it? Like what steps do I need to do? I hear all the time once you accept it, it's easier but how? Acceptance is a gradual process. It doesn't all happen at once. Have you every gone to speech therapy? I took this two week intensive course at the American Instutute of Stuttering in NYC and it changed my life. It broke down a lot of the initial walls I had raised up around myself over the years. For example, I had always tried to hide stuttering from everyone, including my close friends and family, for my entire life. I was a "covert" stutterer. I would do all sorts of tricks to not stutter. Does this sound like you? American Institute of Stuttering (AIS) has scholarships available for people who can't afford to pay the course fee. I'd look into it if I were you. I went to AIS when I was around your age and it was the first time I really allowed myself to stutter openly and freely in front of people. It was the first time I talked to my parents and family in years about stuttering and how it negatively effects my life. I kind of snowballed from AIS to do self therapy things on my own. I would use this app Wakie to just talk with random people from around the world. I did this for a couple weeks, every day. I started to see how **stuttering is what we do when we try so hard not to stutter.** You can start to take these small steps. You build yourself up over time. Try and example of calling three dry cleaners and asking how much it cost to dry clean a suit. Your heart will be racing so much at first. It will be racing less by the third call. When the third call is over you may feel a good feeling inside. A feeling of accomplishment and courage. **You now proved to yourself you can call a store and get information. Yes, you would prefer not to stutter but accept this is where you are at right now in your life. You are working to better yourself and it is Ok to stutter right now.** >So okay I tried that but I've gotten these conclusions - their tone doesn't seem nice, I feel like I'm bothering them when they can help someone else or I'm asking a dumb q I can find on their website, or when they hang up in a rushed manner, I feel like why even? This stuff is all 'mind reading'. It is a known term in the stuttering community where we like to think we know what other people are thinking. What I've found about stuttering openly and working on my speech in public is that people are super supportive and generally want the best for you and want to help you. Most people are patient. Those that aren't are probably dealing with their own problems. Other people have problems too, not just stutters. I'm going to be a bit frank here. In all seriousness, who the hell cares if you are "bothering" someone? This is your life man. You only get one. You need to let that type of thought pattern go, as it's only holding you back. Yea it might take you a bit longer to get the words out but you have a right to communicate. You need to think better of yourself. It's kind of funny, I really think stuttering has helped me get my past 3 jobs. I have landed 3 of my 3 past jobs and I stuttered at each interview. I am up front about the fact I stutter and I think people respect that. At the start of the interview I'd say something like "By the way I stutter. It tends to happen a bit more in situations like job interviews, if you have any questions about it feel free to ask." They see that you are able to handle a challenge and it really sets you apart from the pack. It makes you memorable. People love the underdog story. Just trying to offer you some perspective on how I've navigated this process. In short, stop avoiding stuttering. **Ironically, once you start allowing yourself to stutter you start to stutter less!** Take steps to order food over the phone as opposed to using GrubHub. Don't take the easy way out all the time. You need to build up experience that "you can do X or Y" as opposed to your old way of thinking which is "stuttering doesn't allow me to do X or Y." It's all mental gymnastics. Let me know if you have any other questions.