Today is World AIDS Day. The theme this year is communities that make the difference. With this in mind, here is a short video explaining how communities make a difference to people living with HIV and/or AIDS:
Blog soon,
Antony
Today is World Diabetes Day. People often struggle to understand diabetes and particularly type 1 diabetes which isn’t linked to diet, weight, a lack of exercise or age. So here’s a video from Diabetes UK that explains type 1 diabetes simply:
Here are some facts and statistics:
Quick facts about type 1 diabetes
- Approximately 400,000 people are currently living with type 1 diabetes in the UK, with over 29,000 of them children.
- Incidence is increasing by about four per cent each year, particularly in children under five, with a five percent increase each year in this age group over the last 20 years.
- Type 1 diabetes affects 96 per cent of all children with diabetes in England and Wales.
- Around 85 per cent of people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have no family history of the condition.
- Although it used to be referred to as ‘juvenile diabetes’, around half of newly diagnosed cases are in people over the age of 18.
- The UK has one of the highest rates of type 1 diabetes in the world, for reasons that are currently unknown.
- A person with type 1 diabetes will have around 65,000 injections and measure their blood glucose over 80,000 times in their lifetime.
From: JDRF UK, last accessed: 11th November 2019.
Diabetes is a chronic long term health condition that requires a lot of management. For example I:
Having diabetes can be frustrating at times, as any little thing can affect the amount of glucose in my blood. Things that affect my blood sugar include: physical or mental illness, diet, exercise, the weather, even the amount and quality of sleep I’ve had.
Management and treatments have mostly stayed the same since I was diagnosed with diabetes. It often feels like I am trying to minimise the damage that diabetes causes to my body until better treatments are developed or until a cure is researched and widely available.
The biggest change to diabetes treatment in the last few years is the Freestyle Libre sensor for blood glucose readings. This my Consultant has described as revolutionary and I have to agree with her to a point. This means no finger pricking (unless unwell), but it is only half a job. Next diabetics need a pump that works with the Freestyle sensor to administer the right amounts of insulin automatically.
What’s your experience of type 1 diabetes? Leave a comment below.
Blog soon,
Antony
I’ve really struggled with my mental health in the last few days. The days and evenings have all been tough. So here’s a video and photo update from Nick, Dylan & Russell, my Bengal cats:
A photo of each of them, taken yesterday:
Despite what people say about cats being independent and not really caring about their owners, apart from for food; my cats have been a great comfort to me. Indeed Dylan, the grumpiest looking one of the bunch seems to be able to sense I’m struggling. He comes over to check on me and rubs up against me. Not his usual behaviour. I think it’s his version of a hug and saying he cares.
Take care & blog soon,
Antony
I first discovered Brené Brown when I saw this TED talk titled The Power of Vulnerability:
Which Brown followed up with this TED Talk, Listening to Shame:
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So when I started on a leadership course at work, I decided to buy Dare To Lead by Brené Brown.
Dare To Lead is about leadership that is vulnerable, values-based, trusting and resilient. The book is split into four parts. The first and biggest part is Rumbling with Vulnerability. In this section Brown discusses what vulnerability is, why it is important, myths about vulnerability, using courage to drop our armor as leaders, dealing with shame and empathy and curiosity grounded in confidence. The second part is Living Into Our Values. Values are very important to me, so unsurprisingly this was my favorite part of the book. This section covers what our own values are, what organisational values can be and how to turn values into measurable |
behaviours. The List of Values activity I completed with some of my colleagues at work and I found it an incredibly useful in terms of learning more about them and what they value. Since I have also contributed to a consultation at work around our organisational values.
The third part of the book is Braving Trust. This section of the book is all about building trust as a leader and recognising how trust is built up gradually over time and can be easily lost.
The fourth part of the book is Learning to Rise which is all about resilience. This part of the book is about recognising emotion within ourselves and others as a leader, being curious about emotions and being self-aware enough to recognise what is going on emotionally for ourselves and others.
Throughout Dare To Lead are many helpful strategies that if implemented would make you a better leader. Including strategies around: having difficult conversations, increasing self-awareness, being aware of the values of ourselves and of the people we lead, being aware of the stories we tell ourselves (that may or may not be true), how to build trust and courage in the people that you lead.
Dare To Lead is written in a way that feels like you’re having a conversation with Brown. She gives examples from her own experience and also asks open questions styled in a coaching method to encourage the reader to think about how these experiences relate to their own life.
About Brené Brown
Brené Brown is a Research Professor at the University of Huston, is a Social Worker and delivers talks and training on leadership around innovation, creativity and change. Brown has worked with Pixar (Disney) and Facebook around leadership. You can learn more about Brené Brown on her website here.
Dare To Lead by Brené Brown is available to buy on Amazon.
Review soon,
Antony
