{"id":5658,"date":"2022-08-30T18:17:57","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T18:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/?p=5658"},"modified":"2022-08-30T18:30:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T18:30:54","slug":"things-i-thought-i-couldnt-do-with-tourette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/teens4ts\/things-i-thought-i-couldnt-do-with-tourette\/","title":{"rendered":"Things I Thought I Couldn\u2019t Do with Tourette"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Paige Kowalski<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was first diagnosed with Tourette, I was 7 years old. It was a happy day for me, it wasn\u2019t something that I was worried would inhibit me. Although I was incredibly happy to fit in with my family and have my diagnosis, as I got older I was more skeptical of my abilities. As my TS began to inhibit my movement and cause me chronic pain, I gave up on sports. I picked up theater more seriously, and then gave up on truly landing a leading role because of my inability to move fluidly in dance numbers. I was struggling to see myself live up to my dreams, but I was also incapable of giving up on what I loved most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I transferred to a Votech for a theater program and found a love for stage management, not acting like I had originally been passionate about. It was a setback in my eyes until I realized how much I had pained over the fact that I wouldn\u2019t act again, just to find a love for an involvement in theater that I appreciated just as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As my pain got worse and worse, I was struggling to continue with my passion. My teacher left the school and so did I, but I continued to seek out theatrical experience. It was the one place where I felt like I was appreciated for who I am, diagnosis and all. It was always a supportive and loving environment that had nothing but respect for their stage manager. When I originally stopped acting, I thought that my TS had stopped me from participating in my favorite activity, but I had to look at it from a different perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Paige in a high school production of Love\/Sick.<\/em><\/mark><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

I grew into stage management like I grew into my diagnosis, and I was thankful for the ability I had to continue being involved in theater. Without advocacy and being confident in myself I wouldn\u2019t have continued with my passion of theater, and to lose something I love the most because I didn\u2019t advocate for myself would have made me lose all confidence. I am so thankful that I pursued all of the different aspects of my interests because as a stage manager, I need to be able to speak to my company in a compelling and inspiring manner to keep their hopes up about our production. Without training to become a Youth Advocate, I don\u2019t think that my communication skills would be where they are today, and because I continued as a Youth Advocate, I was essentially put into my place as a stage manager through my growing self confidence in my diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is something you thought you couldn’t do, but went for it anyway? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paige Kowalski is an NJCTS Youth Advocate who acted in stage plays in high school and has worked as a stage manager. She also completed a summer apprenticeship at McCarter Theatre in Princeton. She’s currently studying psychology at Marist University. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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