Lyme Life- The Anti-Entrepeneur

As an entrepreneur, the goal is to make a living with one’s own business, to earn money and build a life outside of the confines of a conventional job. The dream is to be independent, build wealth and be extraordinary.

Lyme has flushed that dream down the toilet for me, more than once. I have had a couple of ventures. I started a property management company in 2008. I still operate it, but I have not actually made money. It takes energy to invest in real estate. We capitalized our business with easy money from credit cards. You might recall when that was a thing. We bought and rehabbed a few houses and rented them, only to come up short on almost every one.

I am a teacher at heart. I love speaking to audiences. I speak about the right to life, recovering from child sexual abuse, sex trafficking and dignity, and why exceptions in pro-life legislation defy pro-life logic. In 2012, I started to get more invitations to speak. Then, in 2015 I lost the ability to speak for most of the year. I would stammer, stutter, and stall; unable to find the words I needed. So, I declined invitations and cut way back on my volunteer activities too. I’ve recovered, but remain leery about accepting too many requests.

I call Lyme the anti-entrepeneur, because instead of being creative and energetic about new ways of being productive and adding value to others, Lyme drains attention, energy and resources. I have so many prescribed protocols, I could spend all day just following the doctor’s orders.

Aside from that, the little energy Lyme sufferers have is often spent trying to find ways to feel better, something that offers hope for the future and a return to some kind of normalcy. The entrepreneurial spirit is there, but the focus is skewed.

I suppose it is similar. We hope for a better life, right? The healthy entrepreneur is always looking for creative solutions and new ways of doing things.

Thankfully, Lyme is somewhat manageable and at some point there is usually some rhythm that we can get in our lives to be able to do some living. The other side of that coin is that it’s not going away. We need to find ways of setting ourselves up for the future.

My whole family has Lyme. I used to dream of establishing enough wealth to help my children and grandchildren. This year has been so devastating. I am not sure how we will come back from it.

We ended up with $70k in credit card debt in 2011. We paid it off in three years. This gives me hope. I hope it gives you hope too. If we can do it, so can you.

I say, “You’re still breathing. There’s still hope.”

It doesn’t really matter what you’re battling. Lyme is just one of the many anti-entrepenuer attackers that can come against someone. Call upon your entrepreneurial spirit. Keep trying new things. Continue to dream. Concentrate on getting through.

I encourage myself by remembering the hard things I’ve already made it through. What are the ways you encourage yourself?