Yesterday evening over 30 authors, including a good friend and myself attended a Book Fest at Leigh Library. The event was a huge success in every sense of the word.
I had been looking forward to the event, but did have concerns. However, I was delighted to be proved wrong. I have sent an email to the Library Transformation Team that organised the event congratulating them on such a brilliant event.
We should all count our successes (no matter how small) and occasionally take time to reflect and contemplate them. So here’s a list of my recent successes:
Watched I Love You Phillip Morris, a film about a gay serial con man and prison escapee who finds love in prison. Based on a true story, staring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor.
Installed a printer/scanner/copier on an painfully slow computer running Windows Vista.
Found some single-piece deep silver jar lids for some mason jars. The jars will make up part of some Christmas presents, as well as be used for my next batch of candles (more information in the new year).
Caught up and reconnected with my family. We gathered, ate (a chicken dinner and wine), talked and laughed lots.
Finally caught up with my friend Sye. We all have that one friend that never fails to inspire us. For me, that’s Sye. I talked through a major problem with my idea for my next batch of candles and he solved it like that (*snaps fingers*).
Celebrated Samhain in style with my friends Simon & Chrys. Great food, drink, fire, music and company.
Come off Facebook for the beginning of the week. I made the decision to come off after seeing two major spoilers about The Walking Dead on my news feed. I’ve been amazed how much time I’ve saved by coming off Facebook and realised how much time I used to spend ‘checking’ Facebook.
Come up with titles for a series of blog posts with a Mental Health Focus. I’m thinking of releasing one a week (once they’re all written) on a Monday and calling it #MentalHealthMonday.
Shared my post 15 Lies That Depression Would Have You Believe on a number of Facebook pages. This has increased visitor traffic, but not only that, someone commented stating: ‘Thanks for posting that today, I really needed to read/hear that today, really made a lot of sense and was comforting to read (if that makes sense).’ It’s always wonderful when you write something that resonates with someone and helps them.
Dyspraxia, Dyslexia and Dyscalculia all affect the way people learn. Some people may have one of these conditions diagnosed, whereas others may have two or even all three of these conditions diagnosed.
I have been diagnosed primarily with Dyspraxia, with some Dyslexia and more than a touch of Dyscalculia. But with determination, support and self-belief I have overcome adversity to be relatively successful. I am not alone. Many famous people have Dyspraxia, Dyslexia and/or Dyscalculia and have managed to be successful at what they do.
Below is a definition of Dyspraxia, Dyslexia and Dyscalculia, along with a list of famous people (in alphabetical order) with each condition:
Dyspraxia is:
…a form of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a common disorder affecting fine and/or gross motor coordination in children and adults…DCD is a lifelong condition, formally recognised by international organisations including the World Health Organisation…[DCD] occurs across the range of intellectual abilities. Individuals may vary in how their difficulties present: these may change over time depending on environmental demands and life experiences.
* Apologies for the lack of females on this list. No famous females found to have Dyspraxia online. Know a famous female with Dyspraxia? Leave a comment below.
Dyslexia is:
…a common learning difficulty that can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling.
It’s a “specific learning difficulty”, which means it causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing. Unlike a learning disability, intelligence isn’t affected.
…is usually perceived of as a specific learning difficulty for mathematics, or, more appropriately, arithmetic.
Developmental Dyscalculia (DD) is a specific learning disorder that is characterised by impairments in learning basic arithmetic facts, processing numerical magnitude and performing accurate and fluent calculations. These difficulties must be quantifiably below what is expected for an individual’s chronological age, and must not be caused by poor educational or daily activities or by intellectual impairments.
* According to Dyscalculia Blog, Dyscalculia is rarer than Dyslexia. Dyscalculia is not as well known as Dyspraxia or Dyslexia. This means that it’s likely that less people are assessed for Dyscalculia and therefore less people diagnosed with it. This would go someway to explaining the lack of famous people with Dyscalculia on the list above.
Bear Grylls shares the wisdom he’s learned through life in A Survival Guide for Life. Life can be difficult at times, in A Survival Guide for Life Bear writes how to not only survive these times but thrive in them. His positivity in this book is inspiring and infectious.
Bear gives advice like:
Have bravely to face your fears.
Failure is the key to future success. If you’re failing your making progress towards success.
Set your goal and focus on the journey not the destination.
Be the most enthusiastic person you know.
Over the 72 short chapters (each chapter being 2-3 pages at most) there isn’t a single wasted word. That said, I would have preferred Bear to tell more of his personal story.
He quotes people he admires including the famous, friends, colleagues and the bible.
When I bought A Survival Guide for Life I didn’t realise that he was a Christian and initially it didn’t bother me. However as the book progressed the tone was preachy at times and at one point he even recommended that the reader sign up to an Alpha Course. I also felt like he was atheist-bashing at some points. His religious views made me physically sigh on more than one occasion.
The presentation of A Survival Guide for Life was excellent. A good selection and use of fonts, as well as spacing created a consistent style that was pleasing to the eye of the reader.
If you ignore the Christianity in A Survival Guide for Life, then book is great. The wisdom he imparts is the sort of life lessons we should be teaching all children in our society. His his upbeat tone is captivating and makes it a joy to read. A Survival Guide for Life by Bear Grylls is available to buy on Amazon.
Review soon,
Antony
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Saturday 2 August 2014
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Antony Simpson - Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.
Author of eight books.
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