LeKeisha N. Ruffin

Right amid healing from a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), LeKeisha was inspired to begin writing Brain Rewired: Living Life After____.

In describing the book's title, LeKeisha notes, "The 'After' can be anything. In this creative nonfiction memoir, the after represents a broken marriage, church hurt, police brutality, and failed sex, to name a few. Although I write as a survivor of all these encounters, my story doesn't end there."

In the world that we live in, claiming survivorship is not enough. There are many people who have survived a lot of traumatic experiences, but their lives are in turmoil. There are many who have survived but are angry, bitter, vengeful, and spiteful. They have survived, but their heart is full of pain.

They haven't yet learned that talking about their painful experiences tears down the walls of bitterness and unforgiveness. They haven't learned that their mouth is the ventilation system of their heart and exposing the pain helps heal and free their heart enabling it to flourish in a magnificent way.

The experiences shared in Brain Rewired were painful. Those experiences are ingrained in my mind, and at one point, they defined me. However, through this writing project, I've learned to embrace vulnerability. I've taken my pain, put it on display, and I'm learning what it means to shift from being broken and stuck mentally and emotionally to embracing wholeness.

My goal is to share how my brain was healed and rewired. I aim to serve as an example of resilience and inspiration for others to glean from. I want others to say, 'the pain I feel is real, but hey, maybe I can make it through this.' Why am I passionate about this? Because Resilience Matters!