Something Bad Is Sometimes What It Takes to Improve Your Life
The Universe is a paradox. Hence, sometimes something bad can turn out to be good.
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My life was forever changed 22 years ago.
On November 30th, 1999, I decided to walk the quarter-mile or so from my apartment to the post office. When crossing the busy highway between home and my destination, I was struck by a car (and it was a hit-and-run incident).
Fortunately, I have zero memory of the accident itself. For the next week or so, there are one or two hazy, heavily sedated memories. But then my sedation was reduced, and I found myself in a hospital bed with my right leg in traction and my right arm not working.
I would learn that my right tibia (the big bone between the knee and ankle) had been shattered, and my fibula (the thin bone between the knee and ankle) fractured in 2 places. Also, my right brachial plexus (the nerve cluster in the shoulder just below the collar bone) had been stretched — which was why my right arm wasn’t working.
Later, I learned my right clavicle (collarbone) had been shattered. (Funny story — they originally told me it was fractured. Due to it being shattered, they put three titanium plates around it to take pressure off my damaged brachial plexus nerves. This was funny because the discovery of this came a good month plus later when I saw the plates in an x-ray).
While I have shared a mostly humorous narrative about what happened in my book The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Trip to the Post Office — the experience had a much more profound impact on my life.
Bad things can destroy you or rebuild you
My recovery was nothing but unknowns. They expected me to walk again — but estimated it could take from 1–3 years. The nerve damage in my arm was expected to mostly heal — but how long, and how completely, they had no clue.
I had truly incredible doctors, occupational and physical therapists, as well as nurses who worked on me and my healing. But I also had steadfast determination and laser-precise focus on my recovery.
