The Long and Joyful Road

It all started with a simple phone call over five years ago. I was living in Whistler, BC and nursing a second-degree separation of my left shoulder. I was broke, had no insurance to cover my injury, and worse of all: needed direction in life. Then my niece called me.

"I want to move in with you when I turn sixteen," she said.

"And I want a room with an ocean view," she whispered.

My long road to success that segued from a thought-to-an-idea-to-plan-to-action started with that simple request from one of my most favourite people. It ignited a genesis of movement that propelled me down a corridor of decision, education, travel, and risk-taking. Here I am now, sitting at my desk, typing away on a single piece of technology, yet surrounded by so much more.

Here is my story. Please walk with me as I live my dreams. I would love your company.

I didn’t make the traditional jump from high school to university that most students take. My road to higher learning started with an actual jump. Literally. It all began when I woke up on a cold November afternoon in North Vancouver in 1999.

I lost purpose and direction in life when I moved from Newfoundland to Alberta in my senior year of high school. I moved to Vancouver on a journey to find my identity when I was 26 and just wanted to travel until I found a direction in life. I ended up on a self-destructive path headed directly for an early grave. My good times were slowly killing me. It all came close to ending when I was involved in serious accident one night after a Halloween party. My world went black.

I woke up two days later in a hospital bed with a shattered back. I didn’t know about my fractured skull until a couple of days later when I reached up to scratch an itch in between my eyes.

“What is this?” I asked as my fingers probed the scabbed ridge in between my eyebrows.

“Those are 22 stitches…you fractured your skull,” my mother replied.

No one mentioned my head injury because an aneurysm floated around my brain that threatened to shut down all my mental capacities. It miraculously stopped floating two days later.

I left the hospital in a body cast two weeks later, spent three more months in a back brace, and then underwent painful rehabilitation for my healing back. It was a long and demoralizing process. But I was alive. Six months after leaving the hospital, I packed a bag and kept traveling. I couldn't help it. I was bitten by a powerful bug called wanderlust. My search for identity continued on with a move to Colorado.

However, my time there was brief. A side effect of my head injury was an almost daily occurrence of cluster headaches. Those same clusters forced an early and painful departure from the American Rockies. I returned to my mom in Alberta and began months of brain assessments.

My mom and I sat through countless interviews with psychologists, neurologists, and physiotherapists. It ended three months later with an eight-hour question and answer period. My mom and I sat in the doctor’s office a week later and waited for her report. The doctor smiled at me.

“Todd, you scored above average to superior range,” she said. “You have a mild traumatic brain injury. We have never met a spirit like yours. Be careful, okay?”

I packed my bag a couple of months later and drifted across North America with nothing more than a snowboard. I finished up three years later in the mountains of Whistler. I was 29 and realized it was time to finally start planning for my future. The infamous call from my niece came in and gave me motivation. So, I picked a university in Halifax, Nova Scotia with a public relations program that primarily concentrated on writing. I realized that it would be the best manner to supplement my income after school with a profession that has a wide-open field. That way I would not have to be a starving artist.

I applied to Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax and my application was approved months later. My first shock was when I received notification of my student loan. It was very low. I started to panic and told my friend Sophie I wanted to just stay in Whistler, save some money, and reapply the following year. But, truthfully, I was more scared of failure.

“Todd, you are too comfortable here,” Sophie said. “This lifestyle has enamored you for so long now. But you need to see the chains shackled in cement that hold you here…you need to throw them aside.”

Sophie was from Halifax and had been on her own search for identity over the last couple of years before she landed in Whistler. We were two East Coast kids that bonded immediately. She was right. It was time to leave.

I prepared for an academic life and borrowed 10 books from the local library on psychology, sociology, economics and memoirs on the craft of writing. I read 10 pages from each book every day. I worked, buried my nose in a book, and saved my money.

I left Whistler that summer and arrived in Halifax, ready to face my next challenge. University. I made a mental list of my objectives to achieve during my university years. To finish writing my memoir, get my degree, and launch my own PR agency to promote my writing. I had basic goals. I wanted to find a place I could come home to and feel comfortable in throwing my feet up. I wanted to surround myself in an environment that I loved. I wanted a decent enough vehicle to get up and leave when I felt the need to just get up and leave. I wanted to have enough money in the bank to cover emergencies. And, I wanted to make enough money so I could always put money back in the bank if there was ever an emergency.

It is now four years later. I am 34 and graduated this past May. University was a struggle at times. I spent nights in and out of the hospital with overwhelming headaches. There were times when it was a challenge to sit and listen to class lectures in the painful grip of a cluster headache. Sometimes all I wanted was to retreat to a dark room. There were days when I questioned my decision to leave my old lifestyle behind. But I knew hard work produced results. I developed better study habits, focused on productivity, and practically lived within the walls of my university. I traveled to different countries, kissed exotic lips, had my heart broken way too many times, but never gave up on my dream. I knew it would happen as long as I believed.

I loved being a student. Education was such a key factor in my life path. It opened doors for me that I never thought imaginable, and coupled with my own drive, it paved the way to my success. Days in classes and nights studying have been necessary elements in my career choice.

But, it takes more than just education. It takes passion. My road started with that simple phone call from my niece, but I decided to follow what I truly want to do in life: write.

After university, I sat back and evaluated my options. I held a degree and a universal ticket to travel. I could have taught in Japan or Korea. I could have worked in the communications field in Europe. I could have started at an entry-level marketing position in Bermuda. But, when it all came down, I went after what I wanted most: my own PR agency. I stayed in Halifax, spent hours writing a business plan, so many countless hours in research and number crunching, and submitted it to a government funding agency in June.

I sat in front of a board of directors and pitched my plan to them. They grilled me. My marketing professor, now my mentor, spoke on my behalf and urged them to consider my dream. They did. Then they granted me $30,000 in government financing. Now, here I am, a month later, and I have burned through half of that. New car, moving into my own place in a couple of weeks, have money in the bank, and meeting with clients this week. It is all starting to fall into place. My memoir is almost finished and then I send it to my editor. Then I write a pitch letter and mail it to publishing houses with some sample chapters or a synopsis of the book. Then, when and not if they pick it up, I will also sit before them and hand over a marketing plan on how I feel best to promote it. Hit them with the double-whammy.

I have some new goals now. The first one is to secure financial stability. As soon as that happens, and it is not far away, the next goal is to send my Mother, my best friend, on a cruise around the world. Then, my next step is to set-up an emergency bursary at my university for a student who cannot feed themselves and have no where to turn. I want the woman, the financial aid manager, or who I call an angel, I want her to turn to the student and say, "Well, actually, we can help you. We have a bursary that is not published because it is specifically for a student like you. It is called the Todd O'Keefe emergency bursary fund." My next goal is to build a house with a room that has an ocean view for a certain someone and a separate, smaller house for Mom.

I love the fact that people stood behind me and supported me throughout this journey. It all rests in my hands now. Sometimes, I think the whole universe is rooting for me. Sometimes, I think it is rooting for us all. Walk with me through this journey and live life with me. Breathe in and remember to breathe it out. Slowly. Breath by breath and see life for what it truly is.

A gift from the heavens.

Until next time. I look forward to your company.

"I will lead the way, oh lead the way when I know...and I'll sweep away, oh sweep away what I don't. Well, seize the way, oh seize the way, no, I won't...I will lead the way, oh lead the day when I know." - Zachary Condon of Beirut