There comes a point where awareness alone is no longer enough.
A point where hashtags, surface-level conversations, and quick inspirational quotes stop feeling like real advocacy. A point where you realize people still don’t fully understand what it means to live in a body that moves differently. What it means to shake, to fight for control over something most people never even have to think about.
That’s why I’m bringing Shaking Up Awareness back.
Not just as a blog.
Not just as a platform.
But as a place for honesty.
For years, I’ve lived with Essential Tremor and Cervical Dystonia — neurological movement conditions that shaped every chapter of my life long before most people around me even knew what they were. My symptoms were noticed when I was a child, and I was formally diagnosed at 13. Since then, I’ve spent years navigating doctors appointments, medications, awkward stares, anxiety, assumptions, misconceptions, and the exhausting pressure of trying to “hold it together” in a world that often misunderstands.
But over time, my personal journey evolved into something much bigger.
Through my work & advocacy within the movement disorder community, I have had a front-row seat to the realities of Parkinson’s disease — not just clinically, but personally and emotionally. I have watched individuals fight to maintain independence. I have watched spouses become caregivers overnight. I have watched people rediscover confidence through movement, exercise, dance, boxing, pickleball, support groups, and community. I have also watched people feel invisible because the world still doesn’t fully understand neurological disease.
And that’s exactly why this blog matters.
Shaking Up Awareness is no longer just about my story.
It’s about our story.
It’s about Essential Tremor.
It’s about Dystonia.
It’s about Parkinson’s disease.
It’s about neurological disorders that impact movement, speech, confidence, identity, and everyday life in ways most people never see.
Because Parkinson’s is so much more than tremors.
It’s rigidity.
It’s freezing.
It’s cognitive changes.
It’s grief.
It’s resilience.
It’s exhaustion.
It’s adaptation.
It’s determination.
It’s losing pieces of yourself while fighting to hold onto who you are.
And yet somehow, within this community, there is also extraordinary strength.
I have met some of the most inspiring human beings through the Parkinson’s & Neurological Movement Disorder community — people who continue showing up despite the odds, despite the diagnosis, despite the fear. People who refuse to let a neurological disease define the entirety of their identity.
That spirit has changed me forever.
This blog is going to talk about all of it.
The realities people don’t always see.
The science people deserve to understand.
The emotional weight people carry quietly.
The stigma surrounding tremors, Parkinson’s, dystonia, and other neurological disorders.
Because movement disorders are not rare. They are not “just shaking.” And they are certainly not something people should have to navigate alone.
I also want this space to challenge the way society views neurological conditions altogether. Too often, people are reduced to stereotypes or simplified into one symptom. But the reality is far more complex — and far more human.
The truth is, some of the strongest people I know shake.
Some of the most resilient people I know have Parkinson’s.
Some of the most inspiring people I know had to completely rebuild their confidence after diagnosis.
And some of us have spent years learning that vulnerability is not weakness — it’s one of the most powerful forms of advocacy there is.
So whether you’re here because you live with a neurological condition, love someone who does, work in healthcare, advocate, research, or simply want to understand more — welcome.
This is Shaking Up Awareness.
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