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A British politician reflects on optimism, lessons from her mother’s imprisonment, and her strong belief in the power of community. Her daily routine begins with taking thyroid medication followed by a ginger tea, as caffeine interferes with her treatment. Each workday varies greatly, but she often dives straight into early meetings.
She shares her hopeful outlook on regaining health after undergoing major surgeries this year, alongside aspiring to achieve better balance between work and life, something currently lacking. Her optimism extends beyond health to a continual desire to learn and grow. On the other hand, she expresses frustration toward those who intentionally sow division among people.
If she hadn’t pursued politics, she might have aimed to become a barrister, inspired by figures like Michael Mansfield, motivated by a personal history where justice and equality were scarce. She values optimism as a guiding habit, helping her persist through challenges, though she admits to struggling with reducing her fondness for biscuits like Custard Creams and Chocolate Hobnobs. Joy for her comes from her children and music, particularly classic R&B, dance, and house tracks from the late 20th century, although she rarely finds time to dance these days.
Faith plays a central role in her resilience; when life becomes difficult, she turns to Islam for solace and calm. She recommends Stephen Covey’s *The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People* as a transformative read that shaped her approach to leadership early on. Changing her mindset from simply being busy to prioritizing productivity and work-life balance is one of her significant personal revelations. The challenges of her job often keep her awake at night as she continually thinks about solutions to social problems that fuel both her anger and dedication.
Her motivation stems from her faith and core values of fairness, equality, and justice. She feels a responsibility, given her gifts and position, to use her influence to alleviate inequality and help those less fortunate. Reflecting on her family, she acknowledges lessons from both parents: her father demonstrated how not to take responsibility, while also inspiring her love of dance, and her mother, despite serving fourteen years in prison, instilled patience, resilience, and the strength never to give up.
She believes that communities inherently hold the answers to their problems but often lack the necessary resources to realize them. Contradicting notions of poverty of aspiration, she highlights the real barrier as insufficient infrastructure. Advising her younger self, she encourages a greater focus on reading and learning languages, having only recently rediscovered the joy of books after leaving school at twelve. Her story and journey are further chronicled in her book *Honoured: Survival, Strength And My Path to Politics*
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