Starting Again – Can it be done? Yes, it can…
Starting again can be daunting, especially if the thing that stopped you almost killed you.
Sometimes that happens. If there is one thing that is certain about life, it is that life can be very uncertain. It can be going along very well, then suddenly, with breathtaking speed, it can all come crashing down.
In my dad’s case, it was ten feet from the top of a rotten tree. In my case, it was a tiny little bug, about the size of a sesame.
Dad was a logger, a faller, the one who first walked into a stand of trees with his chainsaw, wedges and axe to cut down the trees before they could be hauled out and eventually loaded on trucks to take to the sorting grounds.
One day, when he was in his mid fifties, with many years of experience behind him, he made a near fatal mistake. Visibility was very poor due to inclement weather on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and he was working with a new and unfamiliar saw. The new saws were supposed to have less vibration, which was expected to help prevent a particular kind of condition caused by vibration, called “white hand disease.”
Soon after cutting down a ten foot in diameter, rock hard old twisted dead cedar, he moved over to cut down a much smaller one, approximately ten inches in diameter.
Unfortunately for Dad, it was neither a dead cedar, nor was it rock hard. Instead, it was a rotten, dead hemlock, which has about the same consistency as a banana. The chainsaw, which was much more powerful than the one he was used to, instantly cut right through the snag (as dead trees are called), and dropped on the saw cut, causing about ten feet of it to break free, fall silently through the air, and then strike him on the left shoulder after cleaning his ear muff off his helmet.
The force of the blow shattered his collarbone, bruised his heart and lungs, tore his diaphragm and drove him to the ground, knocking him unconscious. In that split second, the damage that was done was horrendous, and he came a hair’s breadth from dying.
To make a long story short, the crew was able to get him into a helicopter that was there, that day, and very quickly to a hospital many miles away. They were able to save him, and then began the very long process of coming back, the starting again. Just the same, the accident was a career ending incident.
For me, the career ending incident did not come with any kind of drama. Instead, it came from a tiny insect, about the size of a sesame seed, that I did not even notice, commonly known as a Western Black-legged Tick.
At some point in time, likely when I was hiking or perhaps working outdoors, one little tick bit me. I never did see it, but it left me a very nasty payload. When that tick bit me, it shared several different kinds of bacteria with me, including Borrelia burgdorferi (commonly known as Lyme borrelia), Bartonella and Babesia. At least, these are the ones we now know of. Together, they are known as Lyme and co-infections – aka – Lyme disease.
Lyme disease, which at first I thought was just some kind of virus that I could push through until well, is not something you can ignore. The only thing that will deal with it is antibiotics. Both natural and pharmaceutical antibiotics have been effective against it, but only if it is diagnosed and treated early enough.
In my case, it was misdiagnosed and incorrectly treated several times, which had the unfortunate affect of making it much worse. In the end, it left me virtually bedridden, and ended my career (and business).
On a side note: Two things happened in 2007 almost simultaneously. First of all, I was called by God to preach, and secondly, I contracted Lyme disease. I have been able to continue preaching only by the grace of God (no question) throughout this time, but sometimes only barely. However, this is a very small church that simply has not been able to pay me a living salary, and I don’t expect these few faithful folks to do any more than they have…
When I was at the depths of this disease, before I was correctly diagnosed and began getting treatment that worked at all, I had pushed until the very last day. The day that everything stopped was the day that I realize I could no longer comprehend what I was reading. That was the end of my offline business and career, as well as all my online business. They say the money is in the list. Well… I did not maintain my list, nor did I maintain my backups, nor did I maintain my computer. All of that is now gone.
Though I’m now active enough again to get back on line, it is a matter of starting again.
Now back to my dad: Dad was also in his fifties when he had his terrible accident. It looked like he would never recover, but he did. He was terribly crippled up for a long time, and developed some real problems with his joints. Then I suggested he try a couple of inexpensive supplements he could get from the grocery store, which he did. Almost miraculously, they worked, and he began to work out. Soon, he was running five miles per day and working out in an outdoor gym he built.
This was AMAZING for a man who was so crippled up he walked all bent over and haltingly like an man many, many years his senior!
By the time my five foot, six inch dad was in his eighties, he was bench pressing two hundred and ten pounds, curling one hundred and twenty pounds, and riding his bike at least ten miles per day. Instead of giving up, he decided starting again was a far better idea, and he lived his life to his fullest, right to the end. Some find his end very tragic (he was hit by a speeding car and killed instantly), but the reality is, Dad lived life to the fullest, right to the end and died the way he wanted to, full of health on his beloved bike.
Dad showed me that starting again is the only was to face a major setback. Quitting or giving up is not any kind of option. The only two options in a setback are start again, or die trying.
Many days when I awake, I still feel like I would be better off giving up. It’s funny in a twisted kind of way how the brain works first thing in the morning. But then I realize, once again, that giving up is nothing more than a living death, and is not an option. Starting again, no matter what odds must be overcome, is the only way to face a setback.
In the now immortal words of the fictional little green ninja, Yoda, “Do or do not. There is no try.”
Dad, whose photo at the top was shortly before his accident, proved to me that starting again is possible, even after almost dying and a very long recovery.
For me, even though I’m not well enough to go back to my old career, it means I CAN read well, write and speak well again, at least on most days, and I’m up and about again, even if it’s with way less energy than I used to have.
Those things won’t stop me, either. I know that God continues to give me grace every day to do what he has called me to, and I also know that this body I am presently living in CAN recover from almost anything, provided it’s still alive.
Quitting isn’t an option. I’m starting again, and this blog is the first step.
Dave Cottrell is opinionated, compassionate, and passionate about people, marketing and online business. He does a lot of digging, experimenting and research, and writes like crazy about a wide variety of topics and subjects. He is the owner of many websites and blogs; you can read his rants and find out more about him at https://www.davecottrell.com/ This article can be shared freely as long as this box remains intact. Copyright © 2019 David H. Cottrell. All rights reserved.
