For me, living as normal a life as possible is very important. This week, for the fourth time I got the call to say there was a donor heart available and, for the fourth time, the operation was cancelled because the organ wasn't suitable. People who know me know I'm a resilient character, but there would be no point pretending I don't feel the strain of dealing with the rollercoaster of emotions that throws up - and particularly the impact it has on my family.
So politicians tell lies in order to win votes. Who knew? But in the age of social media, when more people read fake news stories -- stories that have been deliberately invented in order to mislead people -- than real stories, the lies have more power than ever before. Sure, they may well reflect real fears and real anger, but they are still lies.
My definition of what it is to be a man no longer contains the words warrior, veteran, or survivor. For me, becoming a man again was about accepting that I was in danger. In danger of drowning in my own darkness.
At first sight across a dance floor my boyfriend and I fell innocently and completely in love. We were soul mates - so why did our society, the country of our births, tell us that our love was wrong and worthy of punishment through verbal abuse, physical attacks and rejection? Because we were a mixed race couple.
We cannot and must not ignore the different rates of violence between sexualities as they speak to the root causes of violence against all women. The disproportionate violence experienced by bisexual women would suggest that it is often the objectification and sexualisation of women that is the root cause of the violence used against us.
And so I feel for Kim Jong-un, who's also a fatty with no desire to do anything about it, except obliterate any mention of his fatness in the media. Apparently, North Korean officials have asked China to ban any references to him as "Kim Fatty the Third," a nickname so popular, it gets suggested by auto-complete on China's leading search engine, Baidu.
We have to begin to undo the lessons we internalise as children about our roles as men. To let go of the need to display our heroism in a world where not all of our enemies can be seen, let alone defeated. To learn to love women as people of equal value, agency and self-mastery as ourselves.
With a smoothly functional system, a reinvigorated Eden Hazard - who has already surpassed his total of six league goals from last season - and a Diego Costa who seems more minded to score goals instead of antagonising defenders, Conte's sparkling Chelsea are utterly unrecognisable from the rudderless group of individuals that were turned over in North London.
Getting over Imposter Syndrome is about accepting that you have role in your success. It's about accepting that you have a right to be where you are, that opportunity doesn't equal success and there's no harm in being a bit wrong sometimes.
Over the years I have met with thousands of bereaved parents who never cease to shock me with their tales of horror and lack of support following the devastation that is the loss of a baby. In some trusts, stillborn babies are still being delivered in delivery suites to the sounds of babies crying, excited visitors arriving with bunches of flowers and congratulation balloons.
You have no control over so many things when you lose your vision, which is particularly painful for a control freak like me. Even simple things like making toast can be a challenge - I've buttered quite a few kitchen worktops in my time!
Today is marked by activists and survivors with rage and disbelief, and ultimately a sense of frustration. Another year has passed and across the globe millions more women and girls have been brutalised or killed at the hands of predominately male perpetrators. Violence against women and girls continues to be at epidemic proportion. Returning to this day, year on year only to feel aghast and ashamed at the sheer scale of gender-based violence will do little to change the plight of women and girls across the globe. What we need to do is prevent the violence from happening in the first place.
Today, as people across the globe will come together for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, there is one very clear action our Government can take to show it is serious about rejecting Trump's attitudes to women - closing Yarl's Wood immigration detention centre.
If football would "just concern football", then the Premier League's support for Rainbow Laces would garner no response, rather than lots of response than include hateful vitriol. How are LGBT fans supposed to enjoy their favourite team winning a game, when the person sat behind them either in the terraces or in the local pub is shouting derogatory words into their ears?
While Mair acted alone he was undoubtedly buoyed in carrying out his crime by the climate of bigotry and hatred of 'the other' created by peddlers of the politics of division and scapegoating in the context of a campaign on Britain's membership of the EU that shamed our democracy.
Now, I am experiencing a strong sense of déja vu. The new incarnation of the Digital Economy Bill starts with a real concern, that children can access pornography online, and puts forward a 'modest proposal". This is a deserving group whose interests are indisputably important.
Since becoming a disability rights campaigner, I have realised that my disability is the most important part of my personal identity, to me personally. So why can't I show that pride, that importance, by calling myself a disabled person with the same ease with which I call myself a woman or a Muslim?
My partner and I are lucky. We have both worked for many years in a succession of well-paid roles and managed to live well. When we were told that the only option was IVF, and that we would have to pay, I was in the fortunate position that I had just received a bonus from work and my partner had a little saved.
I want to raise awareness and show my support to all victims, and get the world having the conversation that violence and abuse is never ok and there is support out there. Together we can make a change.
OK, so you're not an MP but you do have an MP. Do you believe transgender equality is important? Then now is the time to make a difference.
Men may not be great at talking about health and emotions, but many of us will happily wax lyrical with anyone willing to listen about the merits of the beautiful game, muddy pitches, the smell of Winter Green and the taste of Bovril. Sport is a great connector.
Twenty years later, we are a generation on and we feel lucky to be able to build on our ancestors' hopes of raising children in a better world: freedom of religion, LGBT rights and instant global communication.