When you have Tourette Syndrome, the simple act of getting dressed can turn into a badly performed ballet.
Take for instance the sleeve of a shirt. The sleeve, you see, has to be “just right” or else the tics become non-stop to the point where you are ripping off the shirt. Many a day has been ruined (and many a shirt) because the tics were so bad that I had to change clothes 10 times or more.
This is my struggle. Every day I battle with “the sleeve,” and almost every day the sleeve wins. The minute the shirt does not cling the right way or scrunches up too tightly on my arm my tics go into overdrive making me look like a crazy chicken. Other pieces of clothing need to be just right as well, but it is that stupid sleeve that causes me the most grief. On most days the clothes win and I end up wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans.
I would like to one day know what it feels like to grab a shirt, put it on, and call it good. But since this is not in my foreseeable future, I will continue “the awkward ballet” every morning with my constant and never changing dance partner–Tourette Syndrome.
Want to know more about Tourette Syndrome? https://www.tourette.org/