{"id":4067,"date":"2015-06-16T09:08:36","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T13:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/?p=4067"},"modified":"2015-06-16T09:08:36","modified_gmt":"2015-06-16T13:08:36","slug":"2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/","title":{"rendered":"2015 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay \u201cNot a Definition\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the essay I submitted to the NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS<\/strong><\/a>) for their 2015 Children\u2019s Scholarship Award contest. I hope you enjoy it!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"NolanK\"<\/a>

NolanK<\/p><\/div>\n

I was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome when I was seven years old. At that age,\u00a0it did not bother me much, and was not severe. It did not even cross my mind often at all.\u00a0As I grew up, in my little, close-knit town of Lyndhurst, the tics did increase in severity.\u00a0Naturally it started to bother me more and more as time passed by. In Lyndhurst,\u00a0everyone seems to know each other and is friendly towards one another. This fortunately\u00a0ended up benefiting me when it came to my TS. In elementary school, I went to class\u00a0with the same thirty kids every day of every school year. I was very much respected by\u00a0all of my teachers, classmates, and coaches as well. I lived a happy childhood with great\u00a0friends who I loved so much, many of whom I am still friends with today. As I look back,\u00a0I think about what an amazing,happy life I’ve had. I think about how appreciative I am,\u00a0because I have lived this incredible, happy life that I am so grateful despite having TS.<\/p>\n

This past year, I have come to realize that the best philosophy that any person\u00a0with Tourette’s could have is that it does not define you. Little did I know that this was subconsciously my mentality throughout my whole life. It took me a few years to actually\u00a0build up the courage to tell people about my disorder when they had asked about it.\u00a0Before that, when people unknowingly asked about my tics, I would act as if nothing\u00a0happened. Even then, it did not occur to me that the disorder I had was seen as something\u00a0that stifled children from living a normal, happy life. I kept being myself and it worked. I\u00a0acted as if there really was nothing wrong with me, because that was how I wanted to be\u00a0viewed by others. I really was a normal kid who played sports, hung out with his friends\u00a0as often as possible, and received excellent grades. Everything else in my life followed\u00a0suit.<\/p>\n

As I anxiously began high school, I told myself to act like I always had been.\u00a0Fortunately, this was an extremely beneficial plan of action. Although I did make obvious\u00a0screeching sounds and neck movements in the middle of class, my peers did not seem to\u00a0mind much. I remained the kind, respectful, student and friend that everyone was fond of.\u00a0My younger cousin also had tics, which caused me to start thinking about my own case. It\u00a0became clear that since I knew I was a normal person, I could easily be one. I could even\u00a0be extraordinary.<\/p>\n

Medication was necessary due to the severity of my tics for quite some time. It\u00a0made me very drowsy, and my mind constantly foggy. One summer, I reduced the dosage\u00a0to help myself feel more alive and energetic. I then had to increase the dose again when\u00a0my tics escalated. Eventually, with the help of my parents and neurologist, I slowly began\u00a0to decrease the amount of medicine I was taking. In due time, I was completely medicine\u00a0free. Soon, I started to become more energetic, as I hoped I would. I was loving life. The\u00a0best part was my tics had barely gotten worse!<\/p>\n

Over these past few months, with the new found gift of a clear, open mind, I have\u00a0been thinking a lot about this topic. I realize that the best way to live with TS, is to act\u00a0like it doesn’t even exist. This is what I have done for the majority of my life, and it could\u00a0not have turned out better. I have never missed honor roll, I am a three year varsity\u00a0baseball player and captain, have so many friends who I wouldn’t trade for anything, a\u00a0caring family, and an incredible girlfriend who won homecoming queen along side me\u00a0winning king. It is more than possible for people with this disorder to be as people\u00a0without it. In fact, they can be extraordinary. Tourette Syndrome is not a definition. It is\u00a0not who I am. I am Nolan, and that has worked wonderfully for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the essay I submitted to the NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS) for their 2015 Children\u2019s Scholarship Award contest. I hope you enjoy it! I was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome when I was seven years… Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[18,76,116,196,212,258,264,265],"yoast_head":"\n2015 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay \u201cNot a Definition\u201d - Teens4TS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is the essay I submitted to the NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS) for their 2015 Children\u2019s Scholarship Award\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2015 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay \u201cNot a Definition\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is the essay I submitted to the NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS) for their 2015 Children\u2019s Scholarship Award\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Teens4TS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-16T13:08:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_NKelly-300x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"NolanK\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"NolanK\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"NolanK\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#\/schema\/person\/e8dad601627f75ef2836f25939b5313a\"},\"headline\":\"2015 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay \u201cNot a Definition\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-16T13:08:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-16T13:08:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/\"},\"wordCount\":744,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_NKelly-300x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Acceptance\",\"Confidence\",\"Essays\",\"Medication\",\"NJCTS\",\"Respect\",\"Scholarships\",\"School\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Teens\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/\",\"name\":\"2015 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay \u201cNot a Definition\u201d - Teens4TS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_NKelly-300x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-16T13:08:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-16T13:08:36+00:00\",\"description\":\"This is the essay I submitted to the NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS) for their 2015 Children\u2019s Scholarship Award\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_NKelly-300x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_NKelly-300x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2015 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay \u201cNot a Definition\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/\",\"name\":\"Teens4TS\",\"description\":\"For Teenagers with TS, by Teenagers with TS\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Teens4TS - New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/03\/njcts-bug.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/03\/njcts-bug.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":537,\"caption\":\"Teens4TS - New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#\/schema\/person\/e8dad601627f75ef2836f25939b5313a\",\"name\":\"NolanK\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5c9fe671f48612dc1c971d617cafce4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5c9fe671f48612dc1c971d617cafce4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"NolanK\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2015 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay \u201cNot a Definition\u201d - Teens4TS","description":"This is the essay I submitted to the NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS) for their 2015 Children\u2019s Scholarship Award","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"2015 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay \u201cNot a Definition\u201d","og_description":"This is the essay I submitted to the NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS) for their 2015 Children\u2019s Scholarship Award","og_url":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/","og_site_name":"Teens4TS","article_published_time":"2015-06-16T13:08:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_NKelly-300x300.jpg"}],"author":"NolanK","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"NolanK","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/"},"author":{"name":"NolanK","@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#\/schema\/person\/e8dad601627f75ef2836f25939b5313a"},"headline":"2015 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay \u201cNot a Definition\u201d","datePublished":"2015-06-16T13:08:36+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-16T13:08:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/"},"wordCount":744,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_NKelly-300x300.jpg","keywords":["Acceptance","Confidence","Essays","Medication","NJCTS","Respect","Scholarships","School"],"articleSection":["Teens"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/","url":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/","name":"2015 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay \u201cNot a Definition\u201d - Teens4TS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_NKelly-300x300.jpg","datePublished":"2015-06-16T13:08:36+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-16T13:08:36+00:00","description":"This is the essay I submitted to the NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS) for their 2015 Children\u2019s Scholarship Award","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_NKelly-300x300.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_NKelly-300x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2015-njcts-childrens-scholarship-award-essay-not-a-definition\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"2015 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay \u201cNot a Definition\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/","name":"Teens4TS","description":"For Teenagers with TS, by Teenagers with TS","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#organization","name":"Teens4TS - New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome","url":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/03\/njcts-bug.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/03\/njcts-bug.png","width":1080,"height":537,"caption":"Teens4TS - New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#\/schema\/person\/e8dad601627f75ef2836f25939b5313a","name":"NolanK","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5c9fe671f48612dc1c971d617cafce4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5c9fe671f48612dc1c971d617cafce4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"NolanK"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4067"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4067\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}