James Freitas is a writer, photographer, birder, and outdoorsman. It’s these passions, along with support of loved ones and medical professionals, that saved his life.
On January 14th, 2022, James Freitas’s car was hit by an 18-wheeler forever altering the course of his life. Suffering a diffuse axonal brain injury, a severe form of traumatic brain injury causing tearing of nerve fibers throughout the brain, James had to relearn all the basic functions most take for granted. Rather than succumb to his condition, he progressively reclaimed his life through his love of birding.
James embodies resilience and his story demonstrates some of the most beautiful aspects of life can be found in response to unexpected adversity.
In this conversation, we discussed:
Capacity
Gratitude
Slowing down
Vulnerability
Acceptance
Leaning into discomfort
And much more
As you will hear in this podcast, James has and continues to overcome significant hardship. His inspirational experience only adds power to his beautiful writing and photography.
Adaptation is always possible.
Purpose provides perspective to overcome life’s greatest challenges.
For more of James’s work, I highly recommend checking out his Substack Rock & Hawk, as well as his website www.james-freitas.com.









