"On this day five years ago, I fell off the back of a pickup truck and broke my back. I had no idea that what would follow would be weeks of being in bed and months of constant pain. In fact, I never thought I'd break my back at 15 years old. I continued doing what I could throughout the day until the pain became unbearable and forced me to give in and go to the hospital. That day was the day I found out I wouldn't be going on a trip to Disney World I had worked for all year, and honestly, I cared more about that than the fact I was nearly paralyzed from the waist down.
Breaking my L1 and L2, I was very lucky. Not only because I wasn't paralyzed, but because I did get that injury. Because I broke my back, my life took a twist I was never expecting. I wrote my first book and started writing on a regular basis. I published Dark's Descent in early 2016 which was soon followed by six other books in the series. I continued writing and publishing. I did vending events and realized I want to work for myself. Basil E. Bacorn Enterprises took form. In January of 2018, I joined the Jay Mart Mall to sell my books, and those operations quickly evolved into Basil E. Bacorn Books, Art, and More. That business venture took me on a tumultuous adventure spreading almost two years, during which I completed my Associate's degree in Business and Entrepreneurship. My college was not the college of my choice either. In fact, I was rejected by my top three choices. I was devastated, but I moved on. I had temporarily put my business in the hands of Kelly & Ko, and went away to college. I was there for a semester only, before completing the rest of my degree online. I completed my degree while running my store, having taken it back fully and reopened it in its very own Main Street location.
In December of 2019, I had a new opportunity come, this one in the form of a business shutdown. My bookstore gift shop was struggling to stay afloat, and it was admittedly taking up a lot of my life. I loved my business, but it was time to take a break at least. Maybe come back to it sometime in the future. So when my landlord at the time gave me the option to end the lease early, I took it. It was a rollercoaster of emotions and even though I miss the store, I am glad I took the opportunity.
And now, I am the proud owner of Basil E. Bacorn Publishing. I have ten of my own books published, and two books by other authors so far, with many more on the way.
I got to this point in life five years after breaking my back. I got to this point BECAUSE five years ago I did break my back, and because I didn't let it stop me from moving forward.
This is just an example of how the universe leads us on a strange path. Cheesy, I know, but I believe it is true. It is true for me at least, and my strange path has truly been one of ups and downs, but I will continue the process and keep going forward. We are making our way through a global pandemic and a crazy time in our history. We all know we can get through this, but what we don't know is what comes next. What comes next is in our hands. We all heal the best we can, patch ourselves up and dust ourselves off. We move forward with life and our lives and use the lessons we learned to be smarter, work better, and live happier.
Tough times are tough for sure, but we succeed one way or another, even if how we succeed isn't how we pictured it. Sometimes success starts with failure. It is how we handle that failure that will lead us to the next success."
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