I don't intend to publish posts every other day but it's in the nature of the stroke-rehabilitation process that the action happens in bursts. You go for weeks without a medical appointment, without hearing from anyone in the benefits world and then suddenly everything happens at once.

Thus it was that yesterday, I had an appointment with an adviser from the National Careers Service at my local Job Centre. This was a follow-up to a meeting with a Disability Employment Adviser, with the aim being to find ways in which I can use my skills in reading, writing and talking to make some sort of a living.

I had no idea of what to expect but thought the meeting might last 30 minutes at most. After two hours, I came away with a comprehensive report about the discussion including identifying my goals for 2015, the skills I can use to help me achieve those goals and looking at ways in which I can move forward, given the mental and physical restrictions placed on me by my stroke.

It was suggested that getting involved in voluntary work would be a good move; I'm already an active business networker and it was suggested that becoming part of the voluntary sector should help me showcase my skills and my situation to a whole new range of people.

In an ideal world, I would use those skills to help people who are going through what I've been through over the past year. I would like to get into counselling, at least on a part-time basis, so I've signed up to do an introductory course in counselling skills at my local college. I'm also having public-speaking coaching; standing up in front of a room full of people doesn't faze me and I think I have an interesting story to tell, so it's a matter of polishing my skills to a level where people will pay to hear me talk about it.

All of these things wouldn't have occurred to me up until the afternoon of December 16 2013. I was a journalist who worked on newspapers, magazines and websites and wanted to stay like that until I retired.

But life sometimes has a way of taking you along fresh paths and encouraging you to do things which you haven't tried previously. Having come so close to being run over by a bus, I really feel I've been given a chance to take my life in a new direction. The year 2014 has mainly been spent recovering from the worst experience of my life. What does 2015 hold?

Hello, world

It seems somewhat appropriate that I should start this blog on the first anniversary of a life-changing event. On December 16, 2013, 28 years in the high-pressure deadline-driven world of journalism caught up with me. While crossing the road in a busy street in Tamworth, I suffered a stroke and collapsed. I remained conscious throughout, so I knew my left arm and my left leg were still there, but not working.

Thanks to the help of a passer-by who called a medic and an ambulance, I was rushed into hospital, where I spent Christmas and New Year. It took a fortnight before the feeling came back in my arm and leg and I am still working to rehabilitate them a year on. My brain was damaged, a frightening thought if you let it frighten you, but I’m still here, I’m still breathing, I’m still coherent and I’ve had 12 months of meeting new people, doing new things and pushing myself in ways in which I wouldn’t have pushed myself before the stroke.

My days in journalism seem over, as my brain can no longer cope with the stresses and strains, but new fields have opened up to me. New ways in which I can use my God-given skills in writing, talking and helping other people.

I don’t want to look back at what happened, I want to look forward. At 50, I’m too young to just let the rest of my life disappear. For example, I’ve been meaning to write a blog along these lines for several years and never done it; now, I have no reason not to. I hope you’ll follow me on my journey.