How Much Life Can Change in Just One Year

I ran into a friend of mine the other night who I hadn’t seen in a couple of years. As is often the case, we had been able to keep up with each other’s lives through social media despite not talking to each other in person over the period of a couple of years. One of the first things he asked me was, “Didn’t you have some sort of surgery or something?”

The answer was and is, yes. And today is actually the one-year anniversary of the day I went under the knife and had bone chipped away so that my sciatic nerve could be moved away from my spine. That may sound like some typical back surgery, but what some people didn’t know is that I had temporarily become a paraplegic due to this “rebellious” sciatic nerve of mine.

The pain was one thing. As tough as that was, I was managing to get by on aspirin until I spoke to the surgeon, and she insisted that my pain level was too high to just be taking over-the-counter medications. Plus, apparently the aspirin isn’t good for surgery.

So, for three weeks leading up to the surgery, I was confined to a wheelchair while attempting to use chiropractic therapy to literally get back on my feet. I enjoyed none of it – having to ask people to help me, having to work from outside the office and having to deal with the possibility I might never walk again. Then, the one week I did try to work from the office presented me with a whole new set of challenges and issues.

Fortunately for me, the surgery was a success. However, that was a lone positive among a series of negatives that had taken place over a period of several weeks. Painful rehabilitation sessions while having to learn how to walk all over again. Fractured relationships. Terminated employment. Lack of job opportunities. All while I still under a physician’s care trying to learn how to walk all over again. Life took a toll on me for numerous months.

My life began to change for the better when I took the initiative to start Jupiter Promotions earlier this year. It has been a slow start but I am determined to not be one of those nine in 10 small businesses that fails. I have never worked harder to make something happen and I know my business will thrive because I will outwork and outperform every single one of my competitors.

I also began to force myself to add walks to my daily workout schedule that already included doing bridges and stretching movements designed to improve the nerve function in my back and legs. And as some of you already know, I have been taking yoga classes again. All of this has been great on getting me back to a state of normalcy on a physical level.

So, yes I did have a surgery. What could have been a life-ending surgery ended up at least being a life-changing surgery. Is my life better now than it was prior to having the surgery? Probably not. Certainly not as stable. But I have a plan that I lacked before and I have more drive and ambition than I have ever had in my life. And I refuse to give up and I am in no way going to allow myself to fail to succeed.