I love NYE. I have spent the last several hours looking over my journals from the past year and planning out the next. It was entertaining to look back and thrilling to look forward.

Before I even opened the journals, I thought of how great this past year has been and how many great steps were taken and how much I had learned. I joined a course by Benjamin Hardy that has taught me so much and allowed me to attend a conference to meet my hero, Richard Paul Evans (another author with Tourette Syndrome. Check out his Michael Vey series).

I was able to quit my full-time job and spend four glorious months working part-time and writing and studying. It has been heavenly and I have made some great steps.

I was featured in the Huffington Post, which then was picked up by LDS Living and shared on several LDS Facebook pages.

I was able to complete my book and it will be available for release on January 27th. Keep an eye out, I'm so excited for it!!

Once I cracked open my journal for looking back and read the goals I had set and couldn't help but laugh. I did not meet a single goal that I had set for 2017. Isn't it great that success comes in so many forms?

The best part is that all of these successes that were unplanned this year has set me up incredibly nice to meet the goals I had set last year. However, they won't be my focus. I have 5 large goals to focus on this year. One of which is personal and I'll not share it here. But my remaining four are:

1. To write and publish book 3 by the end of 2018. (I'm hoping for November)
2. To earn enough income to maintain a part-time status of employment.
3. To pay off at least one loan
4. To workout 3x per week at least.

So they are pretty big goals all things considered. Then I sat down and mapped everything out on a specific timeline and now I'm just so excited I can barely breathe! So excuse me, I'm going to go burn off some energy and celebrate the new year!!

Funnies to Realities

My friend Kylee is having a baby soon. We recently had a baby shower for her, and it was oh so much fun. Not only because of the amazing women that came and the excitement of a little baby and the adorable clothes but because Paula was as feisty as ever.

I don't know what got into her, but she was going on and on. I can't even remember all the jokes because they just kept coming and coming. I haven't seen Paula that active in quite a while.

While it was a funny experience, I find myself wondering, why today? Part of TS diagnosis is that there is no rhyme or pattern to when tics appear. So why are mine always so freaking funny, while others struggle so much? I love being so vocal, but what about those with physical tics?

I do have physical tics, but they are small and not as common. I wink and have a shoulder tic. The shoulder can hurt when I do it too often and leads to a constant soreness and achiness that is just part of life at this point.

I get that I can be overly optimistic at times, but it's really my saving grace. Having Tourette Syndrome can be hard. Life can be hard. Scratch that- Life IS hard. For everyone. It's not up for debate. Everyone struggles and has trials and tragedies in their lives.

So what is the difference? Why do some come away appearing to have a charmed life with perfection at every turn, while others languish in never-ending turmoil?

Honestly, I think the answer stems back to my original question with Paula. Why is she so hilarious and others just want to hide from the world?

Nick Vujicic, worldwide motivational speaker, would have many reasons to languish in never-ending turmoil. However, in his book, Give Me A Hug: 8 Life Lessons From Nick Your Kids Cannot Miss he says:

“Whether your life is happy or not is your own choice.
Many people think I can't live a normal life because 
I don't have arms or legs.
I could choose to believe that and give up trying.
I could stay at home and wait for others to take care of me.
Instead, I choose to believe that I can do anything, 
and I always try to do things my own way.
I choose to be happy.
I am happy because I am always thankful.” 


Paula is only funny because I make her funny.

My life has opportunities because I have sought them out.

I have worked hard to choose happiness for so long that it has almost become second nature.

I still have rough days. There are days the tics hurt more than normal. There are days I don't feel adequate to be writing as much as I am and making a career out of it. There are days I still am amazed they actually happened. I got to meet my hero? I got to meet my mentor? Receive wisdom from such great minds?

Who am I to get such blessings?

I'll tell you who I am. Well, a few things at least...

I am a daughter. A sister. An aunt. A friend. A writer. And more.

I wrote them all out at one point, and it got to be a very long list. With all the things on this list, do you know what I didn't find? I didn't find pain. I didn't find Tourette Syndrome. I didn't find any experiences really. I found my relationships and the things I love to do.

Things that happen to us do not define who we are. Unless we let them.

When things happen, we make a choice of how to react. We choose to laugh or cry. Scream or smile. And for how long. The more we choose to cry, the more sadness becomes a part of who we are.

There is nothing wrong with crying. At all. Just don't make it a constant state. Allow yourself to also feel joy, anger, surprise, fear and the entire spectrum of emotions.

Pick the one you want to be known for. Choose this emotion the most. I want to be happy. I want to be grateful. These are the emotions I choose to listen to the most often. I still cry. I still get angry. These are not bad or wrong. They just aren't me.

Who are you?

What traits do you have? Which do you want?

Click Here for my free guide to figuring out the traits you want to be known for and remember you are awesome.

Not What I Was Hoping To Hear Today...

Paula has found a new friend that she loves to pick on at work. Just like Paula, Carly is full of sass, says what is on her mind, and is fun to be around. So the two of them together gets to be pretty entertaining.

It is a known fact that Paula loves animals and makes a lot of animal noises. I've quit trying to keep track of them all. So I wasn't really sure how to take it when Paula made a new noise that made Carly laugh.

"What's so funny Carly?"

"Hahaha! It sounded like a horse!"

Great. That's just what every single woman in her 30's wants to sound like.

Thanks, Paula for the new sound and Carly for making me feel incredibly attractive today... Or not.

Whoops

Hey there. Long time no see. I wanted to take a minute to apologize for slacking off here the past month or so. I am still around and I am still writing, but I've been focusing so much on other areas of writing. I've been writing on Medium, taking a few courses to learn and improve the quality of what I put out there for you and finishing up my second book.

I still have great Paula stories. I have several drafts started so I wouldn't forget them. But I'm trying to keep up and keep my sanity at the same time. Which is pretty difficult.

SO!

The compromise I've come up with is to mix things up a little. I will try to write one post here per week. If I don't get a Paula story, I'll share some of my writing from other areas online, so you can see what I'm up to and why I didn't get a story up.

Deal?

The best way to keep in the loop is to sign up for my email newsletter HERE. As a bonus and a thank you, I'll even send you an 8 question guide to discovering how to take control of your own story by using traits for you rather than against you.

You are wonderful, thanks for reading!!