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Life's A Twitch author takes tics, reactions to them as they come

This is the first of two introductory posts from new contributor EmmaO, who has her blog called Life’s A Twitch. We at Teens4TS are excited that Emma will be writing in this space on a regular basis. Enjoy!

Hey people! I love to sing, dance, act and play the guitar! I have Tourette Syndrome, OCD and Anxiety Disorder. What can I say? I’m in high school. It takes up a lot of time.

Anyways, something just happened. I thought it was slightly funny. A girl I know posted a status with some weird joke I didn’t understand, but it involved Tourette’s. OK, it wasn’t “slightly funny,” it was just that I laughed when she spelled Tourette’s wrong. People always spell it: Turrets. HAHAHA.

Yeah, no. We don’t have some castle turret disorder or anything like that… Turrets… hehe. Anyways, I’ve been pretty stressed and anxious lately. Blah blah blah, the usual. You know, that’s pretty much my daily life. Part of being a teenager… plus someone with Anxiety Disorder.

So, my squatting tic has been on the rise. Or low… Get it? I don’t rise when I squat, I go low. And I said the rise because it’s been worse, but rise means up, and when you squat you don’t go up, and… OK, I think you get it. ;)

I’ve been asked a lot of questions about it lately, but I understand why. I mean, it does look pretty weird if someone just squats out of nowhere. I guess I would probably ask someone why they kept squatting if I didn’t know better.

Back on Halloween, I went with some friends to a haunted corn maze that also had a “Gore House.” When we entered, first of all, my one friend ran out screaming. But, that’s not the point. She knows we love her even though she is a huge chicken.

When you enter the Gore House, you have to wait for a little bit in this one small room, because you have to take turns entering with the other people viewing the haunted house. While waiting, two of my friends and I stood linking arms in front of one of the workers. We patiently waited for him to tell us to enter the Gore House.

I bent down a few times, then he said, “Um, I have a question. Why do you keep doing that?”

“Oh, I have Tourettes,” I replied politely.

“Haha, really?”

“Yeah.”

“What, really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Really?”

Then, one of my friends blurted, “Yes, of course! Why would we lie about something like that? Gosh.” She seemed a bit frustrated with the worker, which made me laugh. She asked me, “Why didn’t he believe us? Like, really?” I shrugged and told her, “Well, that’s the normal reaction I get from people. They always say ‘Really?’ ‘Nuh-uh,’ or ‘No you don’t!’ ”

She did not seem happy with this. I guess I am just used to people asking me. I don’t like it when they do, but I have to understand that they are just curious, and I would probably do the same if I were in their position.

That reminds me of when I went to the fair with one of my best friends last month, and while walking the way to get picked up by my dad, two girls that looked our age walked behind us.

I bent down, and heard one of the girls laugh.

“Girl, did you just see that?” One of the girls asked.

“Haha, yeah, you saw that too?”

They both laughed.

Emma, inhale… exhale… It didn’t make me mad, which surprised me since I normally get a bit angered whenever people make dumb comments and laugh like that. Oh well, they don’t get it.

Oh my gosh, I don’t want to sound like one of those angst filled teenagers that are always screaming, “No one gets me! No one!” Ha. They’re dumb. Always remember that someone else has probably gone through exactly what you’re going through, or worse.

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EmmaO

5 Comments

  1. Hi Emma,

    My name is Katie. I am currently in my freshman year in college and I just read your post. It made my laugh a little, everything that you have said I’ve had happen to me to. I was actually in high school and I ticked (I know, I spell it weird lol) and some kid was like what was that? And I told him I had tourettes and he honest to god did not believe me. My friends were laughing because they all knew that I had it. It can get frustrating sometimes and I know that but you are handling it so well. I was recently diagnosed with OCD so I feel your pain there. It can get really hard,on me sometimes too when people make fun of me, I am extremely sensitive about it, and it hurts my feeling often but I try not to let it get to me. But it is hard. I think you are so strong for writing about it and saying how you feel. My mom just recently showed this website to me so I just sent a email out so hopefully I can blog too. Best of luck with everything!!!

  2. MY NAME IS DANTE HALE IAM 17YEAR OLD I READ YOUR BOLOG I REALY ENGJOY IT IT MAY ME UNDERSTAND MY CONDITION I HAVE TOURETTE ADAD OCD AND AUTISM I LOVE TO DANCE SING AND ACT AND I LIKE TO PLAY THE PIANO T HAVE BEEN ACTING AND CANCEING SINCE I WAS 8 YEAR OLD MY FAVOR DANCE IS HIPHOP AND TOP DANCE IAM HOME SCHOOL I JUST FINISH A 2 WEEK PROFORAMENT SHOW CALL THE SOUND OF MUSIC I WOULD LIKE TO MEET U SOME DAY CALL ME ON MY HOME AND MY CELL MY CELL IS 16092009379 AND MY HOME IS 16093864361 CALL ME OH AND WHAT YOUR CELL NUMBER AND YOUR HOME NUMBER SO I CAN CALL YOU YOUR BFF DANTE HALE THANKYOU PS MY ADDRESS IS 908 WEST RT 130 BURLINGTON NEW JERSEY CALL ME

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