{"id":4941,"date":"2017-05-10T13:37:22","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T13:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/?p=4941"},"modified":"2017-06-29T19:34:52","modified_gmt":"2017-06-29T19:34:52","slug":"2017-njcts-youth-scholarship-award-essay-what-its-like-to-be-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/2017-njcts-youth-scholarship-award-essay-what-its-like-to-be-me\/","title":{"rendered":"2017 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay: “What It’s Like to Be Me”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the essay I submitted to the NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS<\/strong><\/a>) for their 2017 Youth Scholarship Award contest. I hope you enjoy it!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Rachel M.<\/p><\/div>\n

I have Tourette but Tourette does not have me. I have told myself this from day one, when I\u00a0was diagnosed at 5 years old with Tourette Syndrome. It is a part of me and I let it help describe\u00a0what kind of person I am. I feel like I am stronger because I have had to deal with this; more\u00a0aware that I have seen other people just like me and some even worse; smarter because I now\u00a0know how to deal with my disorder and how to figure out my goals. There are times when it gets\u00a0rough but I learn from those times; how to handle my body differently; how to distract myself so\u00a0I do not hurt myself; how to advocate for myself and how to make up work quickly at school;\u00a0how to calm myself down. Things that help with my tics, are things like, petting an animal,\u00a0crafting something (like a wreath), playing games on my phone, playing on my laptop, hanging\u00a0with my friends, getting a hug, and just concentrating on something for a while. Since there is no\u00a0specific medicine to cure Tourette, it has been experiments from day one. Try this, and try that.\u00a0It gets frustrating when things do not work and it is relieving when medicines decide to help.\u00a0And sometimes, the side effects from the medicine were not worth it. It was actually better to be\u00a0ticcing than to be on a medicine that made me gain tons of weight, or have changes in my\u00a0hormones, or get a huge permanent birthmark. From first grade through middle school, I would\u00a0stand in front of my class and advocate for myself; telling my classmates about my disorder. I\u00a0loved hearing when they had questions. It showed that they wanted to understand more about my\u00a0condition and more about me. There were some kids that were not so nice, but everyone has\u00a0those kids, regardless of if you have a disorder or not. I just kept myself away from those kids\u00a0and kept moving forward. In high school, all the bullying magically stopped. It was probably\u00a0because I completely switched school districts. But, I do have to admit that there were times\u00a0where those kids got to me; made me wonder why I was not born “normal”. But in reality, there\u00a0is no normal. You can be, whoever you want to be in life. I learned not to be the person that\u00a0everyone wants you to be, but be the person that you want to be. Be a person that satisfies you.\u00a0Do not let anyone stand in your way just because you have a disorder or you have acne, or you\u00a0are not as smart as some of the other kids. That is just you. You are special in your own way. I\u00a0have learned that throughout my years of dealing with this disorder, I cannot stop it. I could not\u00a0prevent it. I was born with it. Just like people are born with blue eyes or freckles. Be who you\u00a0want to be in life. Don’t let anyone or anything hold you back. I am living the life I want to live. I\u00a0am making something of myself. I am going to succeed. For a while, I let my tics overtake me.\u00a0And I was just getting lower and lower. I did not know if they would ever let up and stop. Finally\u00a0my friends told me to hold my head high again and push through. So I did. And yes it was hard.\u00a0But I succeeded. Maybe I will be able to tell more people about my disorder, the older I get.\u00a0Maybe I can learn to advocate for myself better so that I can create a club. Maybe I can meet\u00a0more people with similar or even the same disorder and we can discuss our problems and how\u00a0we overcame them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the essay I submitted to the NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS) for their 2017 Youth Scholarship Award contest. I hope you enjoy it! I have Tourette but Tourette does not have me. I have… Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[18,25,53,76,90,196,264,265,314],"yoast_head":"\n2017 NJCTS Youth Scholarship Award Essay: "What It's Like to Be Me" - 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 2017 Youth Scholarship Award contest. 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