Phil version 2.0

  What do you want to be when you grow up?   “When I grow up, I’ll be stable” (Garbage 1998)   Well - that’s one answer, I suppose!   But -when the question is addressed to a child, the answer is likely to be vocational, in nature.    But -  “...do you want to be...?   Surely there is more to a person than their job.  People aren’t defined by their job - It is only one aspect of themselves.   In the same way,  I am not defined by my brain injury . I am not “brain injured Phil v2.0” - I am “Phil v2.0 who happens to have survived a brain injury”.   At risk of excessive pedantry, though - they might be fair points and both correct, but we are not comparing like with like.    Being brain injured (among other things!) is not a job (at least it is not something, that a school careers advisor would suggest!)   That said, while I did not want it, nor completed an application form and attend an interview,  my own injury can sometimes feel like the source of a career.   Albeit an unpaid one!   T

Liverpool had a Fab Four   And now, Stockport has got one ...    ... including me!   Before I get onto the Stockport Fab Four, here’s l a little background ...   Throughout much of my working life, I frequently sought (and was, often rewarded with) different kinds of  managerial, or other organisational roles . Whenever possible and appropriate, I liked to undertake a leadership function. Being more than a follower, was something that I relished, and it was a source of pride.   This organisational trait, also spilled out into non-vocational aspects of my life.   It has been rather upsetting to feel that Phil v2.0 will  never be able to take on any such roles again.    On positive reflection though, my days of organising are not over!   I have been involved with my local branch of  Headway  (a national charity, for the benefit of the brain injured) since quite soon after the accident.   At first, this wasn’t easy for me. I tried to attend, as a service user, at several its regular “drop