A Q&A I took part in for Headway UK.

In 2013 Naomi sustained a traumatic brain injury after a fall down the stairs.

Since then Naomi has created the online community Alphabet Brains helping her to track her journey and support other survivors in the process.

Here, Naomi speaks about her blog, her recovery and what makes her happy.

How long have you been blogging?

I’d been blogging personally since 2010 and I continued to blog in 2013 after my brain injury, however the subject matter was purely my brain injury and what I was going through. It was May 2016 when I decided to take it public and start Alphabet Brains.

What made you begin blogging?

I started to blog about my brain injury to record what I was going through. I would leave appointments in the early days and write down what had happened and how it had made me feel, I knew that if I didn’t I would forget.

How has blogging helped your recovery?

When I have a bad day I can turn to my blog and write a post about it. I feel so much better after doing so and I know that even if it’s a hard post to write it’s so much better than keeping all the thoughts inside and not writing about them. It keeps my brain active, I’m constantly thinking of new ideas for my blog.

I can see the progression in my writing since I started, I didn’t think it would help my recovery when I started. I just enjoyed writing!

I’ve learned so much about the brain and the different types of brain injuries people can suffer. For me, learning about what happened to me and my brain is an important part of my recovery.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Day-to-day life living with a brain injury and from other brain injury survivors.

What advice would you give to an aspiring blogger?

Write what you know and write what you’re passionate about, it will come easy then. Don’t write about what other people think you should write about, blogging is about you and what you enjoy.

What is the most frustrating thing about your brain injury?

It’s between the chronic fatigue and not being able to articulate myself. I wish I could speak as well as I write!

How do you think Alphabet Brains helps other brain injury survivors?

Alphabet Brains helps others by bringing brain injury survivors from all over the world together into one safe and open community. It also helps others by letting them know
they’re not alone, be it though sharing their survivor story or reading other survivor stories.

I write a wide range of blog posts covering everything to do with brain injury as well as a weekly Brain Q&A to raise brain injury awareness.

What makes you happy?

I enjoy drawing, painting, photography, knitting, cross-stitch, weightlifting and going for nice long walks.

What would your superpower be?

Invisibility.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

Life is short and anything can happen, take in the little moments and only have people in your life that truly care about you because of this.

headway.org.uk