In the aftermath of any life-altering experience, particularly one involving neurological trauma, an individual’s view of the world can often break . For years following my brain injury, I was hit with the the psychological aftermath: PTSD, depression, and a profound sense of alienation. The concept of happiness felt abstract, almost unreachable. What I discovered, slowly and painfully, is that recovery isn’t just about healing the body it’s about changing the mind.

This post explores how a shift in perspective, grounded in both personal experience and scientific understanding of neuroplasticity can transform the outcome of life. By revaluating my relationship and past pain, I began to reconstruct a future with clarity, hope, and purpose. In the process, I’ve come to understand that the most powerful rehabilitation doesn’t begin in the hospital it begins in the mind.

Change Your Perspective, Change Your Life

Ever since my brain injury, I’ve been searching for a different way to look at the world. After struggling with PTSD and depression, I didn’t even know if happiness was a thing I’d ever feel again. It was like I had been handed a life that didn’t fit anymore one where I didn’t recognise myself, and worse, didn’t want to.

I remember the exact day everything started to change. I was just so sick of myself sick of the thoughts, the bitterness, the shame I carried. I hated what had happened to me, and I hated the version of me it had created. I felt like an alien compared to everyone else. Like I was broken and no one could see it but me.

It’s hard to change your mindset when you’re still surrounded by everything that hurt you. I tried. I read all the books, scrolled through the quotes, did the journalling. But it didn’t sink in. Healing doesn’t always happen in the same space that broke you.

In the early 2020s, my family decided we needed a fresh start. In late 2023 we moved to Ayrshire and something in me knew this was my chance. No one knew me here. I wasn’t the girl who had to learn to walk again. I wasn’t the girl with a past that people whispered about. I was just Morgan. Morgan Thain. And slowly, I started becoming her.

That was when I started Makia. Quietly. Privately. I didn’t tell anyone. Writing was my escape, always had been. But Makia was different it was me building a world I wanted to live in. A world that believed in second chances, in starting again, in becoming someone new even if the world didn’t give you permission.

No one knew I had this little corner of the internet until the time was right. Until it all began to align the pupil of the year nomination, the support from charities, the newspaper stories. That’s when Makia could slide into the picture naturally. And when it did, I realised something massive: the world only ever changes when you change how you see it.

For the first time, my perspective shifted and I felt it for real. Everything that 13 year old me used to dream about I had it. A lovely home. A family that’s always had my back. Friends who lift me higher. A job that feels like it matters. Something that belongs to me. My story being heard.

I realised I had been looking down on my own life for so long thinking it wasn’t enough, that I wasn’t enough. But I had always had everything I needed. Wick shaped me. My brain injury gave me a message to share. My struggles gave me depth and direction. I just had to decide to see it differently.

Neuroplasticity

And here’s the science bit the real, powerful thing behind it all.

Your brain literally rewires itself based on what you focus on. It’s called neuroplasticity. Every time you repeat a thought, you strengthen the neural pathways that hold it. So when you think “I’m not good enough” over and over, your brain makes that thought easier to access. But if you change the thought if you choose something kinder, something stronger your brain starts to build a new route. One that leads to healing.

The brain injury forced me to learn about my brain. But the healing taught me to work with it.

Changing your perspective isn’t just a fluffy mindset quote it’s chemistry. It’s neuroscience. It’s healing on a cellular level. When you start to speak differently to yourself, your brain listens. When you visualise a better future, your brain starts to believe it’s possible. It literally can’t tell the difference between imagination and reality that’s how powerful your thoughts are.

My Perspective Shaped Me

Makia became my experiment in hope. Could I share what I’ve learned? Could I use my past to help someone else change their future? Could mindset + science = healing?

I think the answer is yes.

Because today, I get to be all the things I didn’t think were possible. I get to write. I get to speak about my story. I get to be on the radio, in newspapers, in boardrooms. I get to take everything I hated about my life and turn it into the reason someone else keeps going.

Perspective isn’t just about seeing the glass half full it’s about realising the glass was never empty to begin with. It just needed to be seen differently.

And if you’re in the place I once was hating your reflection, feeling out of place in your own life I need you to know something: you’re allowed to start again. You’re allowed to change your mind, your story, your future. Your past is not your personality. It’s your platform.

Your brain is listening to everything you think. So speak to it like someone you love.

And maybe just maybe you’ll find that your healing begins when your perspective does.

Remember, it all starts with self love

– M