“Find a solution and then dream of how great it will be to achieve it. This helps propel you through the anguish to the euphoria of triumph.”
– Randy Zinn, Memoirist, Musician, and Software Developer
Imagine a budding guitarist giving up on his dreams because of a disability that resulted from severe tendinitis. Then, starting afresh and trying to make it as software developer, still unable to use hands and fighting lifelong speech problem. All this on top of being born learning-disabled and developing severe suicidal tendencies. Life can really be one tough ride.
It’s easy to sulk, curse everything under the sun, and just give up. Not, however, if you are Randy Zinn—he strived through all that and more. Randy’s perseverance and grit paved the way for a flourishing career and an immensely inspiring story.
Challenges and Problems
Randy holds a Bachelor Degree in Music in classical guitar. He developed tendinitis in both arms from intensely playing the guitar in a condensed time frame, leaving his arms permanently disabled. Randy painfully recalls, “About a year before this happened, I lost most of my friends because I decided to stop hanging out in the social scene that wasn’t good for me, so most of them never heard about it.”
He was living with his parents at the time. They didn’t realize the toll it would take. Randy says, “At first, we were dealing with the weekly loss of ability and growing inability to do my job, which ‘let me go’ as a result.”
He further adds, “I lost everything from friends to career plans, hobbies, and more, including basics like the ability to floss my teeth, cut my own food. The searing pain threatened to make my new reality permanent.”
Perseverance Personified
Randy lost his ability to type or use a mouse. For two years he put the mouse on the floor and controlled it with his feet. He says, “I think it was just the only other choice I had.”
Randy rigged a book with letter openers so he could play and program his drum machine with his feet. Desperate to find a way forward, he tried making use of free time by writing fiction, his other passion.
Restricted in real life but free on the computer, Randy spent all his time on the machine. He embarked on a new career as a software developer and formed his own consulting company. He has worked for the State Department, NASA, and had a brief stint for the White House, among others. His arms slowly recovered and he resumed music, releasing a handful of albums of his own.
In hindsight, Randy says, “the injury was one of the best things that ever happened to him.”
Randy says, “Perseverance was really the only choice I had, as drowning myself in alcohol or something else wasn’t an option for me.”
