How reading healed by brain

Hi dearest reader,

Let me tell you about how reading healed by brain.

Ten years ago, in San Francisco, I was hit by a car and almost died. Thankfully, I survived, but my brain was damaged during the accident, among a dozen other things, and I woke up in the hospital with a TBI (traumatic brain injury). A brain “bruise.”

Suddenly, I had trouble using my brain. (I’d learned to read at age three, but now I couldn’t read very well!) It took effort, and I was terrified because I loved books and writing stories. So, for the entire summer after the accident, I spent hours each day in the sunshine, attempting to read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami to fix my brain.

Gosh, it was such a weird experience, and it was extremely hard. It took me months to finish the novel, but by the time I was done, I could feel my neural pathways as a life-long reader, reconnecting themselves. I remember feeling so grateful for fiction for healing me. Reading had become a cure to my injuries, emotional and physical.

Years later, and I’m reading better than ever before; it’s easy now. (Thank gosh!!!) The texture of a sentence feels smooth, fun, and vibrant in my mind. And last month I read seven books without even meaning to! This month I read six. Call me idealistic, but I think this means the more you read, the better you can read!

As I get older, I want to continue strengthening my mind, preserve neuroplasticity, and lean into intellectualism. With plenty or room for laughter and jokes along the way.

My goal is to grow a brighter mind through books and have fun with the reading community. Hope you come with.

Love,

Amani Hope