Episode 159: Ticcing My Way Through Life – with Britney Wolf

The episode transcript is below.

Carolyn Kiel: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds, the podcast that goes beyond the six second first impression to share the extraordinary stories of neurodivergent people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel.

Hello and thanks for tuning into the show! We are right in the middle of Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month, which runs from May 15 to June 15, and I’ve got a great episode for you today featuring Britney Wolf, a Tourette Syndrome advocate. You’ll hear Britney talk about growing up with Tourette’s, and how she hopes her advocacy on social media helps kids with Tourette’s feel like they’re less alone.

She also shares how she handles negative comments on social media, including being accused of faking her Tourette’s – which unfortunately is something that many content creators with Tourette’s get accused of. A lot of that stems from inaccurate perceptions and a complete lack of understand of what it’s really like to have Tourette Syndrome. Britney addresses this and busts some of the biggest Tourette’s stereotypes and misconceptions on her social media and on this podcast too.

We also talk about her brand new book about her life with Tourette’s, and how we can all be good allies to people with Tourette’s Syndrome.

If you enjoy stories about neurodiversity advocacy like this one, well then I’ve got good news for you, because I’ve got a lot of other episodes featuring neurodivergent advocates and their personal experiences! Check out my website, beyond6seconds.net, for all my episodes and for ways to connect with me on social media and through my free email newsletter.

And if you really enjoy this episode, then please share it with others! Send my website link to a friend (beyond6seconds.net) or share it on your social media today. Word of mouth and recommendations are some of the best ways that podcasts like this one can grow, and I really appreciate your help with sharing and amplifying these authentic stories about neurodiversity. Thank you.

And now, let’s get to my interview with Britney.

On today’s episode, I’m really excited to be speaking with Britney Wolf. Britney is a passionate Tourette Syndrome advocate who’s trying to beat the stigma surrounding the disorder. Through social media, speaking events and more, she takes every opportunity to let the Tourette Syndrome community know that they aren’t alone and teach those outside of the community what the disorder is actually like to live with. Britney, welcome to the podcast.

Britney Wolf: Thank you so much for having me here. I’m so excited to be here today.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, I’m really happy to have you here today. So when were you diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome and tell me about how that came about?

Britney Wolf: Yeah. So I was diagnosed when I was seven years old. So over 20 years ago, I’m in my early thirties now. So I’ve been living with it pretty much my entire life.

I don’t remember any time where my body was like mine completely. I have no memories of before tics. So my mom noticed the tics actually when I was about, I’m going to say like five or six years old, because it took a year for a diagnosis. And she was starting to pick up on the fact that I wasn’t. I wasn’t necessarily sitting still all the time. And it was instances where maybe I would have been. And it seemed like it was, I was unaware that I was also not sitting still. And so she just kind of kept an eye on it. And she started asking family members that we were around a lot. So like my grandparents who babysat us a lot, and she asked them to also keep an eye as well, just to see if they noticed anything.

And I used to also, I used to sniff a lot, and at the time we didn’t realize that was part of it. Everybody just thought I didn’t know how to blow my nose properly. I got, I got told to blow my nose all the time when I was a kid, and we later found out that was actually a tic. Because even when they told me, I was like, every time, I don’t, I don’t have to, I don’t need to blow my nose.

And so started picking up on it more and more. And then one night when she actually asked me what I was doing in the car, it was the night that I actually remember ticcing for the first time. It was a conscious memory of me moving when I didn’t want to be moving. And when I told her, “nothing,” that’s when she started, that’s when she like made the decision, like, okay, we, we’re going to go and see somebody and figure out what’s going on.

Carolyn Kiel: So then did it surprise you to get that diagnosis? Because I think I’ve read that Tourette syndrome either is rarer in, in girls and women and, or if it’s just not diagnosed as frequently, I’m not quite sure.

Britney Wolf: I wasn’t necessarily. I don’t remember a lot about the diagnosis. I think it just, cause I was just so young. And my mom, my dad, my whole family, really, they made it just like it was really any other day. It wasn’t anything that was crazy or anything for anybody to be concerned about or anything like that. So they just made the transition of having that diagnosis really, really smooth for me.

And I think that’s really good. Like I wish sometimes I would remember more about the diagnosis, but at the same time, I was a kid and my parents just wanted me to be that. And it didn’t bother me to the point where I was concerned about myself. So they went with that.

And but it is, it’s, the statistics are more like male dominant with Tourette Syndrome. I do think like there is some stuff looking into that now, because there are a lot more females presenting with Tourette syndrome nowadays. I don’t know the statistics facts, unfortunately, but I do know yeah it is more, it’s at least more dominant statistically speaking in males than in females.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, definitely. What was life like growing up with Tourette’s like in school or in childhood?

Britney Wolf: I was very blessed. I will say that. I’ll start off with that. My family, I have a very, very big family and they are the most supportive loving fun family in the world. And I’m so thankful for that. And I owe pretty much I feel like everything to them of how I have handled it throughout my life, because they have always let me just be me, tics and all. It didn’t matter if I was ticcing or when I was ticcing or how much I was ticcing. It was just making sure I was okay if it got to a point where I was ticcing really badly or something like that. It wasn’t people making like my family making fun of me. It was them running to my defense if I needed it. So family wise and all of that, that was wonderful. I couldn’t have asked for a better family and we’re very, very close.

School was, it wasn’t awful. I was very open about my diagnosis and my disorder in school. I always told myself it was like, my motto for myself was to get to them before they got to me. So I wanted to put it out there. So I wasn’t instantly the weird girl who couldn’t sit still or did all these weird things with her body, because a lot of, most of my tics, I would say like 90% of my tics are motor tics, which are physical tics. And so I didn’t want those whispers around me and, you know, it’s such an easy thing to get bullied for and people get bullied for it. And for all I know people did talk about me when I didn’t know, but I mean, if I didn’t know, whatever, that was news to me now, if I find I found that out later. But I just, I wanted them to know like, look, every once in a while I might move around a lot. I might move around just a little bit. One day it could be worse than the other. Like, this is just what I do. I have Tourette syndrome and that’s that.

So when I could write papers, when I got to choose a topic of a project that I would do, I would almost every single time pick Tourette syndrome. And that was so not only could I teach my teachers about, more about Tourette syndrome, because they didn’t really know anything about it. It helped me teach my classmates too. Especially if I could present that, like if it was, well maybe not a book report, but a project that you had to present in class or talk about, I would always make it Tourette syndrome. It was my easy go-to to explain myself and explain what I lived with. And I was, I was passionate about getting people to know what it was even from a child.

And so that was one avenue that’s kind of what got me started I think in my advocacy work you could say. Cause I just wanted them to know that I was a real person. And then in my mind it was easier for me to tell myself, “all right, I put it out there. I told everybody what I have. Everyone knows. If they still choose to be a jerk about it, then they have bigger problems in their lives. Like that’s not my problem anymore.” And not to say that it wouldn’t have hurt my feelings still. I mean, it’s easy to say I don’t care what anybody thinks about me, but we all do a little bit, so.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, exactly. And it sounded like you being upfront and sharing that you have Tourette’s and kind of letting people know that you might move around a lot so that they weren’t surprised and kind of like getting to them before they could get you, as, I guess it’s sort of like a first, it’s education, but it’s an early form of advocacy. And it sounds like you were doing that from pretty early in your life.

Britney Wolf: Yes, definitely. Yeah. It just, it seemed like the easier option for me. So I didn’t have to explain it afterwards.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, definitely. So obviously when you’re in school and through your childhood, you’re talking about Tourette’s, you’re writing about it in your assignments, and now you actually speak out a lot on social media, as well as giving presentations about Tourette syndrome. I guess what inspired you to start advocating sort of more publicly beyond your school or, or sort of local situation about Tourette’s?

Britney Wolf: So what inspired me to do that was even, so when I got diagnosed, there was even less information out there about Tourette Syndrome. There’s not, there’s a lot more out there today, but we’re still, I feel like we still have, we’ve come so far, but still also have a long way to go at the same time.

And my mom and I, my parents and I, we were doing that research, finding it wherever we could. And we didn’t have social media. We didn’t have all these outlets to find people that look like me or did what I did. And so in my mind, even though I was surrounded by all these people that loved me so much, every once in a while, it was still this weird, upsetting, lonely feeling. Like, why am I the only one that does this? Why, why is nobody else like me? Like I go to this public school and I’m the only person like this. Like, why can’t I just see somebody that looks like me or hear that they do the same thing as me or that I’m not the only person that can’t control my body? And all of these things.

And I didn’t think it a lot and I don’t even think I really, I don’t wanna say confessed, but kind of like put it out there to my family either, because I never wanted to seem like they didn’t support me enough, because they did. It just, they couldn’t understand on the level of living with it because they didn’t, unfortunately. And that’s not their fault.

So we did all these, like we found out as much as we could whenever we could. And so I decided like, I don’t want anybody else to feel like that when they grow up. I don’t want another little girl wondering why no one like her does it. Or another little kid, little boy, girl, whatever it is. Like, I want them to know, there’s people out there that do it too. And there’s a lot of us actually. People it’s, it’s rare in a sense, but at the same time, a lot of people have Tourette syndrome and there’s a lot of people living with it undiagnosed as well. They went years because they didn’t have a name for it, or they didn’t have something to look at and find out like, oh, maybe this is why I do this. Or maybe this is why I’ve done this forever. And so I wanted, I wanted a voice to be out there. And I just kind of told myself, I’m like, if I want this so bad, then I have to be willing to do it myself too. Like if somebody is going to do it, like, why not let it be me? Why not, if even if only one person listens every time I do something, that’s one person that’s learning about it. Or that’s one person that’s feeling like they’re not alone anymore. And so I just wanted, I just wanted people to feel like there was somebody out there fighting to be taken seriously and get the real life of Tourette syndrome out there. As much as I could, at least my real life with it. And I just wanted the Tourette Syndrome community to know that.

And I wanted the people outside of it too, to just stop thinking we are nothing but a joke. Because as much as I can laugh things off, it gets really frustrating that that’s still what most people think of it as. They just think it’s something to laugh at and they think they get this pass to make fun of Tourette’s syndrome. And it’s just so frustrating.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And it gets used as an adjective, you know, about things, and just misused. Yeah. I mean the, the, the internet is kind of a mixed bag. So in one way, it’s great because it connects people who, who are neurodivergent, whether it’s an autistic people and people with Tourette’s and ADHD, we’re like, oh my gosh, I had no idea there were other people who felt and experienced the same things that I did. And. But so I’m curious what your experience has been sort of advocating and sharing your experiences on the internet, because I know there’s also a lot of stuff about Tourette’s that’s kind of negative on the internet as well. So I’m curious about what’s your experience been like for that?

Britney Wolf: It’s been a bit of a mixed bag. I will say it’s more positive. And I really, really try to focus on the more positive. But as we all know, it can still be difficult when that person, that powerful person behind the keyboard gets to say whatever they want to say without any consequence.

But it’s been, it’s definitely been a mixed bag. When I started making my YouTube videos, I was terrified to make a video, put my tics out there on it. I didn’t know what anybody was going to say. And I’m this like confident person, quote unquote, when it comes to ticcing and everything, but at the same time, I’m not still. I will always have that seed of self-consciousness in my brain.

Cause it’s still, it’s still not status quo. It’s still not considered normal to a lot of people. I’m normal. I think it’s not normal to not move around. I think it’s more normal for people to move. And I remember just getting, being so scared and my husband woke me up the next morning when I posted it, because I talked about doing it probably for a couple of years before I finally got the courage. That one night, I don’t know what came over me. I was just like, I’m just going to do it. I’m just going to make my video. And my husband being the most supportive person in the world that he is, he’s like, “good. Do it, go, go for it.” Like I could tell him that I want to run like five marathons or something. He’d be like, “yeah, go for it. Do it, you can do it.” Even though I’m a terrible runner. So I did it and I just kind of shut my computer and went, went to sleep, I didn’t want to look at it. I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I didn’t, I wanted to pretend like I didn’t do it.

And he woke me up the next morning and when he was getting ready for work and he asked me, he’s like, “did you look at Facebook or anything this morning for your video?” And I was like, “absolutely not, no, I, I have not.” And he’s like, “well, you should. “He’s like, “there’s a lot of really cool stuff out there.” He’s like, “there’s a lot of people really supporting you and sharing it.” So like I got out of bed right away and looked at everything and it was.

And that support, that just beginning, that little seed again, of support, like it, it built that, fueled that fire inside of me to keep doing it. And it makes it easier now too, for those negative comments to kind of roll off my back for the most part. I’m a person that I told my, I promised myself when I started doing this and when I started making videos and speaking out about it to an audience that doesn’t know me, it can be anyone around the globe, that I was not going to fight on the internet. I wasn’t going to give in to people just wanting that rise out of me. And I feel like I’ve stayed pretty true to that.

There’s the occasion where I’ll respond and just correct people. But if they’re on a mission to just completely misunderstand me, then I just delete the comments, then I block them. Because I don’t have time for that in my life. I’m not going to do it. I will maybe attempt to, like on TikTok, I will make a response video once or twice to some of those comments. But at that, after a certain point, if they just want to keep coming, I’m like, okay, I’m not going to play that game. Like, I’m not going to come down to your level. I’m not going to give you this attention that you desire to completely misunderstand me. Because you’re a stranger that I’ll never know, never meet ever in my entire life. And your opinion, at the end of the day, doesn’t mean anything. It might sting sometimes with those things.

Like the thing for me that stings the most I think is being accused of faking it. And that one, that one hurts more, and I think it’s because I don’t know really anybody with Tourette syndrome that hasn’t suffered from imposter syndrome on some level, some especially advocates and everything. Cause you already question yourself. Like my case is mild. I have really bad days and this past week has been very bad. This has probably been, like today has, was kind of mild a little bit, but this past week they’ve really ramped up again because of excitement. And those days where it’s like slower, like sometimes I do question myself. I’m like, “who am I to talk about this? Nobody cares about what I say. It’s not that severe, so why, why do I get to talk about this? It’s not that bad compared to everybody else’s.” But then at the same time, I can’t stand when somebody is like, “oh, well, it doesn’t seem that bad though. Yours isn’t that bad.” Because that’s somebody now invalidating because they don’t see, they don’t see my whole day. Like especially TikTok, you see 60 seconds of a 24 hour day. And it’s just, those are the ones I think that really get me. I, I eventually move on and it’s fine. Like cause I mentally like have a little pep talk with myself and be like, “listen, I know that I was diagnosed 25 years ago, or if the math adds up that way over 20 years ago, I know my story. This person just because they say I’m faking doesn’t mean that it’s true or that anybody believes them also.” But it’s still, it’s one of those ones that really, it’s still, it gets me, but then I try to remind myself of the way more positive things that come. And it’s only every one in every few people that like to make those negative comments just to, just to get that rise. And I just won’t give it to them.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. I think a lot of people don’t realize, or maybe they are just being jerks, is that a lot of neuro, neurodivergent conditions like Tourette’s, like autism, like ADHD are dynamic, you know, so you might be having a good day and, you know, getting things done and having a great day. And then some days are just, you know, more severe. And you’re probably not going to go on film if you’re having like a really rough day. So people aren’t going to see that, to see that. So, yeah. But there’s, there’s a, there’s a certain value in just like, you know, blocking and deleting comments. Like you don’t have to get space and airtime to like every single opinion that comes in, if it’s really negative.

Britney Wolf: Right. Exactly. It’s my page. I can decide what stays and what goes. And really, the more thing, like, I think that makes me most angry, or why I delete them I should say is, I don’t want, like TikTok has younger people on it. I don’t want some younger child or teenager reading some of these comments about a person with Tourette syndrome and soaking that in themselves. I don’t want them to get on there and think like, oh, they’re the problem or something.

Because somebody recently said that people who have coprolalia, which is the swearing part of Tourette syndrome, which I don’t have. And that’s actually one of the reasons why I get accused of faking every once in a while, because I don’t swear. And I always tell people, I’m like, well, you’ve just proved yourself that you know nothing about it. So you should maybe, maybe read just a little bit before you make your comment.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah.

Britney Wolf: But somebody made a comment saying that they should try and not swear and they shouldn’t be so vulgar or they should, they should at least try. And that’s when it makes me mad. Cause it’s, that’s them talking about my, my community and I feel like I get this like mother bird anger and instinct that comes over me. And I’m like, no, not, not here and not today. I won’t, I won’t be tolerating this. And so I did make, that was one of the ones I responded to and talked about what controllable was. And I might’ve been slightly petty and put a picture of the definition of “controllable” in the video at some point. Every once in a while I go there. But then they came back and talked about how, well there’s drugs for that. And I’m like, okay, we’re done. You’re no longer on here. So that’s when, so that was my level. I’m like, okay, no, we’re, we’re going to turn it off.

And like, that’s what I don’t want people to see. I don’t want somebody being like, oh, well, people think that I’m a problem. Cause we’re not. We can’t help it. And that’s not a problem. It’s other people’s problems to learn how to deal with what’s inside of them that’s holding them back from accepting somebody else that has no control over it.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And that, that is a good point too. Is that you, it’s not just about you, it’s about your audience who’s watching and reading those comments. And you know, a lot of times there are so many people who probably just, you know, read and don’t react or don’t like, but they’re there and they’re following you and they’re paying attention to what you’re saying.

And so, you know, a lot of people just kind of lurk on the internet, so you never know whose life you’re going to touch and who’s going to see what you’re publishing. So, yeah, I think that’s really important to kind of curate in that way and make it a safe and supportive community by sort of challenging or, and, or deleting and blocking those comments.

Britney Wolf: Right.

Carolyn Kiel: There are obviously a lot of really big misguided stereotypes about Tourette syndrome in society. And I know that some of your videos and your content you’re disproving those or challenging those. What are some of the biggest stereotypes about Tourette’s that you want to disprove?

Britney Wolf: Yeah, so the first one I guess would be being that we don’t all swear. And I always try to be really careful when I talk about that, cause I never want to dismiss those that have coprolalia. Cause a lot of times it can be discouraging hearing like, “oh, but only 10% of those people,” but those 10% of people are real people.

What I want to try to disprove that as well, is that it’s not as funny as people think it is. They think that they can get away with saying whatever they want. They think that it’s cool and that it must be so cool to have, to just like swear at somebody and then that’s that, because they see what’s on the movies. Like they don’t show the other side of that, where people are getting mocked and ridiculed and filmed without their consent and asked to leave stores and stuff. And even after they tell them that “I have Tourette syndrome,” they’re still being told to go. And that’s what I try to tell people, like, no, that’s, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that part, that’s fun. Like if that was happening to me all the time.

And so it’s only 10% of people that have it, but for those 10% of people, it’s so real. And it’s so, it can be, it can be crippling anxiety and social anxiety and people not wanting to leave their house because they’re afraid of how somebody will react to them. Or, you know, you accidentally say the wrong thing beyond your control, because you want to say things, the least, you don’t know how someone’s gonna react.

And that’s the other thing on the other side of that with the myth of, or things that I want to have people understand is, people think that when we have these vocal tics and say these things or do these things, whatever they might be, it’s that person’s real feelings. It must be what they’re thinking in their head at that time or what they want to say. When in reality, it’s what we want to do and say the absolute least. Like it’s not something that we’re hoping we say. It, we’re getting triggered by hoping we don’t do it. And, and that can be as triggering as just like seeing like a facial feature on somebody. And like, we notice it and maybe we have a vocal tic, but we don’t want to say that word that we noticed it, but now somebody, the more we don’t want to say it, the more it builds and builds.

For example, with my physical tics, we were going down an escalator last night. We were at a basketball game that we go to often. And I always, I have a foot kicking tic. I do it a lot. And I do it a lot specifically at basketball games. And it’s because it’s what I want to do the least, because I’m afraid I’m going to kick somebody on accident. Somebody’s going to get really upset with me. And then especially on the escalator, I don’t want to do it cause I’m afraid I’m going to tumble down the escalator, cause this massive domino effect and get somebody hurt along with me. So it’s the one I want to do the least, but it’s the one my body forces me to do, because I’m thinking about it. Now I’m triggering that tic that’s inside myself.

And it’s the same thing with people’s words. Just people don’t want to accept that, and they have to. We can’t just change it because they don’t like it. If we could change it, we wouldn’t have Tourette syndrome. Like this wouldn’t be a thing. Like Tourette’s wouldn’t exist if we could stop our tics. So those are definitely the biggest misconceptions.

The other one I would say is that we all tic similarly and at the same severity every day, and every minute of every day. That one, I always try to tell people like, look, I have a mild case. But that doesn’t mean it’s not bad. That doesn’t mean that when I leave this conversation that I won’t start ticcing like crazy. That doesn’t mean five minutes from now I won’t go into a full blown tic attack. Like, I never know what I’m going to do. So there’s absolutely no way somebody on the other end of the screen can tell me how it should be ticcing. Cause there’s no way that somebody should be ticcing and no two days are ever the same. No few hours are ever the same.

And I always try to make that very clear, especially if it’s work and stuff like that. Like I always try to tell them, like, for the most part, I’ll be fine. I can tic and work. It might take me a little longer some days to do things. I’m, I just need some breaks. I need to be able to walk away from my computer.

But some days it will be, it can be that bad. I could be here for years and you never see it get that bad. And one day it can get that bad. So, and that’s just what I try to explain to them. Like, I don’t know either. I can have an idea. Like this week, I had a pretty good idea that I was going to tic a lot because I have exciting things coming up and excitement is a huge trigger for me, has been since I’ve been little or younger, but it’s still just a guess too. Like I could have been wrong. I could have not ticced that much.

Carolyn Kiel: Right.

Britney Wolf: But so it’s just, we don’t know either. We don’t know what we’re going to do either half the time. So the misconception of, oh, well, you don’t tic like this person, so you’re faking. Or, how come you didn’t tic like that much yesterday in your video? Or how come you only tic with this part of your body? And that’s the one that gets me. I’m like, because you only, you only see this part of my body. You don’t see the rest of me. And it’s because like I, when I look at my face, like my own face triggers me, because then I start thinking about my facial tics and how much I wish I wouldn’t be doing them. And so then it just keeps going around. And so people get these ideas in their head that we all have to be the same, and we’re all so, so different..

Carolyn Kiel: Sometimes people’s tics may even change over time. Like over the course of their life. You may not always have the same tic for like your whole entire life. It may come and go and come back and it depends on the person.

Britney Wolf: Yeah. That’s exactly true. I’ve had multiple different kinds of tics throughout my life. Some that I’ve never had come back. Some that’s been with me forever. And I still get new ones from time to time.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And I guess when most people think of Tourette’s, if they know anything about it, they think of like the, the verbal tics and the motor tics. But I’m curious, are there other aspects of Tourette’s that you experience, like the way you process sensory information, thought process, creativity, anything like that?

Britney Wolf: So this was kind of, sort of brought up to me. So I actually spoke at a medical school last week and somebody brought this up and it kinda made me almost like, go like huh, I guess that’s true. So I always make, I always, I shouldn’t say make, I always try to bring people into my world a little bit when I go and speak somewhere. I try to give them like, it’s an exercise where I try to make them kind of tic kind of like I do, and where I have them copy sentences down. And then every time they get to a certain letter, I tell them to do something with their hand. So every single time they’re doing that. And then, so, and then I add onto it. So then the next exercise, I do it with numbers and letters. And so during it all, I always I’m, I talk the whole time too. And I make sure I talk and I make sure I talk really fast, which I’m unfortunately really good at. I’ve been told my whole life that I need to slow down when I talk.

And but, and I’ll tell them that too. I’m like, all right, well, I’m going to keep talking when I do this and I’m going to make sure I talk really fast and I’m going to keep going and keep going, but don’t forget, you got to do your tics. Don’t forget, you got to copy the sentences. Don’t forget, you got to do those math problems and blah, blah, blah. Now think about if you were a child in school, think about if you were a student in college or you were at your work desk, and you’re doing all of these things, but you’re also in a meeting, you’re also absorbing this. And so like, I try to bring that all in.

And this gentleman in it, at the end, he asked, he’s like, “so are a lot of people with Tourette’s, are you guys just like really good multitaskers? Because I couldn’t do that exercise.” He was like, “there was no way.” And that’s also my hope. Like, I don’t know what I’ll do if one person one day is like, “yeah, that was easy. I got it done.”

But and I was like, actually I was like, now that you bring it up. Yeah. I’m like, I, I have always been a very good multi-tasker. And it’s because my whole life I’ve been forced to do it. And he kinda like connected that to me. And it was a positive too, that he made me even understand in myself, like, I am good at that. And it’s because I’ve had literally a lifelong training session basically in multitasking because I’m ticcing, and ticcing and talking at the same time when I can. Most of the time, I can’t talk as well when I tic, because I normally don’t breathe very well when I tic. But but I’m doing that at the same time and holding a conversation and concentrating on that, or I’m working at the same time as ticcing, or I’m doing all of these other things at the same time as while I tic. And I just really liked that perspective that he picked up on it.

And I really liked that it was somebody else that understood that like, wow, like you’re really good at this because of this. It’s, cause I even told him, I was like, I feel like I almost always have to be multitasking because I’m so used to it. When I work, I have to have sound. I don’t like to be in just a quiet room. I don’t like just nothing happening around me. I want to listen to a podcast or have something on, on my phone, like on the TV or something, even if I’m not listening to it, I can hear it and have that background conversations and stuff going on while I work. And I actually concentrate better. I don’t like when I’m just in silence and doing just that one thing. And so I think that for me has really been, it’s been a positive my whole life that I never even realized. And I’m so glad that this gentleman made me realize it. So it’s definitely that, that the multitasking comes up.

And then with Tourette syndrome, it’s almost never just Tourette syndrome and just tics or anything like that. I have OCD and anxiety as well as Tourette’s. And a lot of people with Tourette syndrome do have both of those things along with, they can have ADD, ADHD, autism, all of these different things. And for me, that has made me tic certain ways. So like kind of like a Tourettic OCD where I have to tic in certain numbers and I have to do it a specific way, otherwise it’s not correct. In my brain, it’s not correct. Like my body doesn’t feel like I actually did the tic right. Or just like the intrusive thoughts come in. And then I think about them all day long and then it ramps up my anxiety, and then the anxiety ramps up my tics because now I’m nervous or scared or stressed out.

And so all of these things, they connect so strongly together. And so for me, that’s all of those other things that I’m also dealing with every day that people don’t realize, because I don’t always say all these terrible thoughts. Like, I am always like worst case scenario and I mean like severely worst case scenario. And those are that my scary, intrusive thoughts that I can’t turn off. And I don’t sit there and tell everybody like, “oh yeah, all day I’ve been worrying about like, if I’m going to lose somebody in my family, what have you done?” Like, I don’t, I don’t say that to people, but those thoughts are there a lot. And it’s, that probably bothers me more than the tics honestly.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah.

Britney Wolf: Depending on the day.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. A lot of those conditions occur together. That’s true. And yeah, I guess it’s not surprising that like, anxiety ties in with OCD and Tourette’s, and like other, you know, autism and ADHD and all of that .

I’d imagine that you really have like a powerful way of concentrating and just sort of body and mind awareness that probably a lot of people don’t have, if they don’t have to think about, you know, what their body’s doing, what their mind’s doing, what their thoughts are doing. And they’re just sort of like going about their day. I don’t know how people do that. I’m like an overthinker, but even just being aware, having that awareness of your body is like actually pretty powerful.

Britney Wolf: Yeah. Yeah. That’s a really good point. Yeah. I’m very aware of situations that can put me in those predicaments as well, those high anxiety situations. So not always, sometimes they come out of nowhere, still, you know, anxiety attacks are always fun time. But, but it does, it helps me understand my body more and it’s forced me to listen to it a little bit more and provide it what it needs as well. Like it forces me to like, all right, I’ve been having some really stressful days. I need to just not do anything for a couple of days. Like I need to rest. And I, sometimes it’s very difficult for me because I am a person that, we are on the go a lot, but at the same time, we’re home bodies. So it’s a 50 50 for me, being difficult and sometimes easy yet. But I do always get really excited when that one weekend comes up and we’re like, ok, we have nothing to do. That’s that’s what we’re going to do. That is my plan is if anybody asks me to do anything, I’m saying no, because my body needs to not do it. Needs to lay on the couch and watch trash television for a weekend.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, that rest is important and I’d imagine, you know, sleeping well is important. Because you know, sometimes that’s a challenge just, oh yeah. You know, rest and all of that is really, really important.

Yeah. So you have a new book coming out. I don’t know if it’s about to come out or it’s just come out, but it’s right around the time that we’re recording this, it’s coming out. So yeah, tell me about your new book.

Britney Wolf: Yes. So it is. It’s coming out Sunday, April 3rd, so very, very soon. And I am over the moon excited about this. This has been something that I have wanted to do since I was a little kid. I have always loved to write, and it’s always been that way for me to get my feelings out. Like I’ve always expressed myself through words, like written words, the best. I think I get that from my dad. My dad has always been the same way. He’s not a person that does it really well face to face necessarily all the time. But like, if he writes you something like he’s the guy that’s gonna make you cry by writing something to you. And he has done that to me multiple times in a good way.

So I’ve always loved to do this. And I’ve always wanted to write a book about my life with Tourette syndrome, because that was like the ultimate goal for me. And so that’s exactly what I did. My book’s about my life. I talk about some of the stories that I’ve shared here about getting diagnosed and those sniffing tics, and remembering when I ticced for the first time and I felt it, and I didn’t know what was going on, and my life in school and my life working now that I actually have a career, because that was a concern of mine when I was younger. And it’s a concern of a lot of people with Tourette syndrome because there’s misconceptions out there where people think they can’t hire somebody with Tourette syndrome. Because apparently people think that just because we move or say things means we’re incapable of doing other things when that’s not true.

So I talk about that and I have passages in the book as well, where it’s like reflection pieces for teachers to sit there and think like, what am I doing right now that makes my classroom safe for somebody that might be a little bit different? Because I had like, some of my teachers, like in school, not everybody realized that was ticcing. You know, you find ways to mask that. You find ways to tic under your desk or try to suppress, even though it’s painful and not a good thing for somebody to do. So in school, sometimes you can be concentrated on things. Or like when I danced, I didn’t tic. So there are areas where I’m not ticcing all the time, but I’m ticcing later. So I talk about that and talk about, or have that reflection piece for a teacher that just because they don’t have a student with Tourette Syndrome today doesn’t mean they won’t tomorrow or next year or next semester.

And I do the same thing for support systems. Like having those reflective questions, like, am I being as supportive as I can be for this person in my life that has Tourette’s? And they can be applied as well, although it’s for Tourette syndrome and it’s my life based around Tourette Syndrome solely, it can be applied to so much more, like OCD or anxiety or any of those things, because they are similar in certain aspects. Very, very different still, but there’s those similarities that you can connect it to, I think. And so I just talk about that as much as I could and try to get into more detail than I share through my videos and things. But that’s also, again, just because I was allowed to, able to write it all down.

And I’m so excited! I hope people learn about Tourette syndrome that don’t have it. I hope people feel seen and heard by reading it and reading my story. And I hope they connect to it. Those with Tourette’s syndrome, I hope they find a connection to it in some way. I’m very, I am excited and scared to hear what people think about it when they read it.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s so cool. And probably by the time this interview airs, it’ll already be out for a couple of weeks, at least. And so what’s the name of your book?

Britney Wolf: Ticcing My Way Through Life.

Carolyn Kiel: Alright. Awesome. Yeah, we’ll definitely put a link in the show notes so that people can purchase that. By the time this comes out, it will be available for purchase. That is really exciting.

It’s like a new extension of your advocacy and I’m sure you’ll reach new audiences and especially helping people like, like teachers and other people just be more aware and more educated about how to work with, or teach people and children, adults who have Tourette syndrome. And as you said, really, just anybody who’s different, who’s behaving differently. You know, it could be a multitude of reasons why, but I think having that awareness is really important. So that’s awesome.

Britney Wolf: Exactly.

Carolyn Kiel: Long-term, what are your goals for your Tourette’s advocacy?

Britney Wolf: Well, if it’s ever possible, I’d love to have like my advocacy work being like my full time day job, quote, unquote. I’d love to start. So I do speaking engagements and I’m part of this really amazing speakers network. It’s called the Teach Better Speakers network. And I’d love for that to be what I do ultimately. Like I want to go all over. I want to go everywhere and tell people and shout from the rooftops if I have to like about Tourette syndrome and what teachers, schools, and classrooms or workplaces, the businesses, whatever it is. And show them how hireable we are, how good of students we can be, how we deserve to be in the classroom. We deserve to be in the conference room. We deserve to be everywhere that everyone else is. And this is why. And this is also how you can be an ally by learning more and understanding what that person is going through on as deep of a level as you can.

And that would be like my, my dream to be able to go everywhere. Anyone like all over the place and just teach as many people as I possibly can about what Tourette Syndrome is, what they can do to help people with Tourette syndrome and how they can help us end the stigma, because it can’t just be us. It has to be the people outside of the Tourette’s community too.

Carolyn Kiel: Absolutely. Yeah. That’s great. It sounds like you’re you’re well on your way to, you know, expanding and reaching more of those people outside of the community to really educate people about Tourette syndrome. That’s really awesome.

Britney Wolf: I hope so.

Carolyn Kiel: So Britney, how can people get in touch with you if they want to learn more about your advocacy or speaking?

Britney Wolf: I have social media. I have a lot of social media pages dedicated to Tourette Syndrome awareness. Instagram is probably a really good one. Instagram or Facebook. I’m on Twitter too, but I am so bad at Twitter. So if you’re trying to contact me on there, it’s, I’ll, I’ll see it eventually, but I can’t promise that I’ll see it quickly. But it’s one tic at a time. So, spelled out, one, O N E, tic, T I C at a time, all one word on Twitter. And then that’s also my Facebook page. My Tourette syndrome. Facebook page is one tic at a time. And then my Instagram is underscore Britney Wolf. Because my name was taken already. And TikTok is also one tic at a time. So I try to do as many with that, but my, my Instagram is more of everything. It’s not completely dedicated to just Tourette syndrome. Of course I do my advocacy work on there as well, but it’s also my, my personal page too, where I share many, many pictures of my dogs.

Carolyn Kiel: Okay, perfect. Yeah. We’ll put links to social media so people can click on them from the show notes.

Britney, thanks again for being on the show. As we close out, is there anything else that you’d like our listeners to know or anything else they can help or support you with?

Britney Wolf: I guess my one thing would be is if they’re listening to us and this is the first time they’ve heard about Tourette Syndrome and it has helped change their mind about it is to tell one other person. Or when you hear somebody making that joke saying, “oh, I must have Tourette’s” or “they must have Tourette’s”, like for the sake of our whole community, have the courage to be like, “hey, actually that’s not, that’s not what it is.”

Like, that’s my, my call to action for people listening outside of the Tourette Syndrome community. And for those in it, is to tic proudly, because this is our life and we have no room or time to be ashamed of it.

Carolyn Kiel: Great words of wisdom for people who have Tourette syndrome and people who want to be allies and what they can do to be that way. Wonderful. Yeah. Well, thanks again Britney for being on the podcast. It was great talking with you.

Britney Wolf: Yeah, this was great. Thank you so much for having me.

Carolyn Kiel: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help me spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend, give it a shout out on your social media or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of my episodes and sign up for my free newsletter at beyond6seconds.net. Until next time.