OK this is post number 1 and the first time I have ever tried a blog. Nothing strange about that unless you consider that for over a year of my working life I was administering several of them and have read hundreds for work and personal learning.
I always stuck to the idea of work in the virtual and live in reality, but the edges have become blurred and I have decided to have some of my life on line.
I am what some might call an ugly duckling. I grew up very unpopular, scrawny with the NHS issue glasses guaranteed to make you a good runner or subject to repeated beatings. I dropped out of the local scene for some time, came back more confident, wearing contacts and joined a gym. Result was popularity I wasn't used to and abused horrendously, so when I say popularity is over-rated, I am not always kidding.
I have far more now than I deserve. My wife took on someone in need of serious help and work and accepted the challenge. Now I am back to being predominantly unpopular, and far happier, my wife and son are amazing and I have limited time for others anyway.
If you are with an ugly duckling, they will cause you a lot of pain. However there is a strong chance of a decent person residing within. If you don't want the work and grief back away.
If you doubt my credentials of being a boring old man consider the following. I have been involved in 'functional' fitness for several years, so I am less pretty than people on easier training. My idea of relaxing TV is astrophysics, geology, history, evolution, medicine, genetics, various sciences and other similarly exciting stuff. I love learning and this means I am very happy to be proven wrong repeatedly then re-adjusting everything I thought I knew.
Life is about priorities and regardless of how long some periods can feel, it isn't indefinite. As such my priorities in life are in the order below.
Wife and son. Though I would say they see this less than I would like to show it.
Work, unfortunately, due to the need to provide for wife and son.
Training, and this takes many forms from running or cycling to commute to weights and a range of really stupid stuff. This is often accompanied by listening to heavy metal and is my main selfish pleasure.
Writing. I enjoy writing and have a couple of unfinished novels, not saying they are any good but I have enjoyed writing them.
Relaxing. The rarest of my pastimes and one I need more practice at.
DIY. Hate it with an all-consuming passion but it has to be done and I am often the only one to do it.
I like history but my own is something I am not largely proud of so there will be huge gaps on my blog regarding my past. There is a chance that my son could end up reading these pages and much as he knows I wasn't always the person I am now, he doesn't need detail.
I am by contrast proud of what I have become, with a lot of help and hard work. I am hard on myself and those around me making me hard to live with but also someone who has achieved beyond expectations on many occasions.
I am not a person who makes many allowances, seeing weaknesses as something to overcome or turn to a strength, a characteristic I have instilled into my son and enhanced in my wife they have becoming as hard on themselves as I am on any of us. The good side to this is we all do well at things people told us we wouldn't or can't. The negative is we upset each other on many occasions, we're working on reducing this.
I will always be a work in progress, wanting to be smarter, fitter, better in many ways. My mantra is a Henry Ford quote 'If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you're probably right.' The cost of this has been a number of injuries when younger and a great deal of intolerance for those who give up at the first hurdle. We all get told there are things we can't do, some are correct, like unaided flight, most aren't if you are willing to work hard enough.
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