A good role model is someone you can learn from. You may not want to be exactly like them, but there are things about them you admire. Here are some of mine…

• my dad
• Rebecca Adlington, Olympic gold medallist and record breaker, and
• Eleanor Simmonds, at thirteen, the UK’s youngest ever individual Paralympic gold medallist
• Kimya Dawson, punk/folk singer who refuses to be pigeonholed (check her out on the soundtrack from the movie Juno)
• Nelson Mandela, campaigner against racial segregation in South Africa, who was sent to prison for twenty-seven years for his beliefs. Mandela went on to become president of South Africa and was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993
• Bob Geldof, punk singer, creator of Band Aid and campaigner against famine, poverty and Third World debt

There are lots of other people I admire too… from Barack Obama to some of my best friends. Some people are just inspiring! When readers tell me that I am their role model, I feel very honoured. I know most of those girls won’t grow up to be writers, but if they dare to dream and make just some of those dreams come true, that’s brilliant!

Look around and choose some good role models for yourself, people you can learn from. Decide what you admire about them and why. You can even stick their pics on to card and slip them into your Happy Box from the last chapter to look at whenever you need inspiration!

Being Different

Dear Cathy

I have had epilepsy since I was small. I have to take medication to control it, which does work most of the time, but I live in fear of having a seizure in front of my new high-school friends. I just want to be normal!

Lydia, age 11

Hey Cathy

I have a disability and need to use a wheelchair. I have a group of brilliant mates who have stuck by me since junior school, but lately I can’t help but notice how strangers see me. It’s like they pity me… or else they look right through me as if I’m not there at all. How can I show them I am every bit as good as they are? It makes me so sad.

Harley, age 12

Lydia and Harley are both struggling with physical problems, but coping very differently. Lydia’s epilepsy is mostly invisible, as the medication she takes is keeping it under control. She has chosen not to tell her friends, as she so badly wants to be like everybody else, but hiding a serious condition like epilepsy is not a good plan. If Lydia does have a seizure, her friends may be shocked and frightened – and they won’t know how best to help her.

It may feel risky, but Lydia needs to open up to her new friends and tell them about her condition … it’s part of trusting them, and allowing them to be true, supportive friends. The more Lydia trusts her friends to know about her condition and be there for her, the more chance she has of living her life to the full… of being ‘normal’. Believe it or not, though, there IS no ‘normal’ – we are all individuals, unique, often imperfect, but doing our best. That’s about as normal as it gets!