In the years when teenagers really need to be connected to somebody, they aren't especially in small towns where kids are bored and look for something to get them going.

People believe that if you can shut your Tourette's off for a period of time, then you can always shut it off. I try to explain to people that if I spent my whole life trying to control my tics, that's all I would have time for.

Here's the thing: I had never been to Boston, my whole life. Probably because I'm a Yankee fan.

There's moments when you have to make a split-second decision that will form you for the rest of your life.

Being with my family and loved ones makes me feel vulnerable. Speaking my truth and then being that in action. Leaving my comfort zone but knowing that risk is going to create something beautiful. I believe I have come to good terms with my vulnerability. I welcome it now, where I didn't in the past.

I've have a number of violent tics. With Tourette syndrome, there's not just compulsive actions, but compulsive thoughts as well. That used to scare my mother a lot.

I'm a morning spinner. That's usually when my brain is thinking too much and I don't necessarily see things positively. So I sit myself down and remember that I'm making it up.

I feel like my soul yearns to experience something new at all times. That may be an encounter with a new place or persons or a song that plays and urges me to dance in a different way. I come alive when there is a chance to learn or do something different.

I would ask everyone to remember, in any situation we are experiencing, that we can come from a place of fear or love. I would say, however uncomfortable it may be sometimes to get to that root, to please take that extra time and courage to come from a place of love.