Disorders or Gifts?: My Journey through life managing Tourette Syndrome, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Attention Deficit Disorder

The reason for writing this book was simple. I went through a journey of managing multiple disabilities throughout my life and have become very successful despite having these so called disabilities serve as roadblocks for my own success. While on my journey to become a pro soccer player I noticed that when you find yourself in positions either in sport as a player, coach, mentor, etc. you now have the added ability and in many cases responsibility to become a role model for a younger generation who would like to accomplish similar goals such as my own. I found myself conducting a lot of public speaking events for younger kids as well as talking about my experiences with other young people who were dealing with similar issues and disorder type struggles such as what I dealt with also. Then I started to ask myself how can I do more to help others? How can I provide my story which seemed to be inspirational for the young kids I spoke to, to more people? So I decided to write this book about my experiences. The reason I feel that this is worth your time to read is because I was the type of kid who was told "You can't" over and over to. Meaning, if I really thought I would like to be something, or try something or be good at a certain sport for example, I was told a lot that I would never be good or never be great, or can't ever obtain a level of greatness in things I found interesting to myself. Some of that were other kids being kids; however some of that were also adults, other parents, school teachers, doctors, youth and professional coaches, and more. Out of all of that in the face of apparent sure failure I decided that I would do the complete opposite of what they told me, and would accomplish the task at hand anyway. So what was the result of all of that? Let's take a count. Managed my disorders without prescription drugs, graduated not only high school but also college with a degree in business management, went on to become a pro soccer player, now turned professional soccer coach, while on the journey to play soccer professionally I was lucky enough to play alongside teammates and opponents that have played or play in world cups, and some of the highest level soccer in the World. I have now a list of people that I am associated with that honestly many people cannot match. I have a wonderful family and am now a father of the most beautiful baby girl. I am in every definition of the word successful, and I did it all while having neurological disorders that in many people cause them to not be able to move towards those things. Many times because they listen to the people that tell them "You can't". I'm here to tell you. "You Can!" You just need to want it bad enough.