It always makes us smile – in a slightly rueful way, we would hasten to add (!) – when we listen to people talking about themselves. Their achievements, skills and abilities. 

 

For some reason – and perhaps it’s part of the natural English reserve / mindset – we’re just not comfortable about blowing our own trumpets. Well, if we’re going to be completely honest, most of us aren’t comfortable doing this. 

 

And, yes, of course there are always going to be exceptions to this rule – and there’s lots we could say about this (!) – but we’ll leave that one for another day... 

We’ve all experienced Concussion at some time – or times (!) – in our lives. Ranging from a light bump on the head which is quickly forgotten about; to a more serious blow followed by a few seconds of unconsciousness and, perhaps, a trip to the Casualty Department. 

 

Despite it coming in many different forms and from a huge variety of causes – and we’ve heard some very “interesting” stories of the events leading up to it, which we’ll leave to your imagination (!) – Concussion is generally considered to be a form of mild traumatic brain injury without long term effects. But is this really the case? 

Service is one of those words with a multitude of different meanings, not helped by it being used as both a noun and a verb. Doesn’t that take you back to English and Grammar lessons at school?!? 

 

Then there are its religious, military and domestic service overtones, all adding to a generally negative vibe. Hinting at hard work, duty and doing things we wouldn’t necessarily choose to do. And, probably, with – or for (!) – people we probably wouldn’t choose to spend our time with… 

 

Given all of this, it’s not surprising that service is often viewed as being rather old fashioned and belonging to a bygone era. Best consigned to the pages of history. 

 

However, this isn’t what we wanted to focus on today, but rather the more general – and voluntary (!) – aspect of service. 

A few weeks ago – goodness, it was mid February (!) – we had a look at susceptibility. Why there is no bogeyman – with your name written on them (!) – out there waiting for you. If you need a quick reminder, you can find the post here. 

 

As so often is the case, this has led on to various conversations with clients, friends and family about what actually determines susceptibility. In other words, the Risk Factors. The things most likely to tip the odds for you in the wrong direction. 

 

Before we go any further, there’s one very important thing to bear in mind. That we’re all completely unique. In every way. There’s never been another person exactly like us and never will be again. So, however similar we may be to another person – or people – our own particular make up, circumstances, life and medical history are unique to us. 100%.