Actually, this goal, whilst set many years ago, it has now slipped down the pecking order and become less of a priority than it once was, although I do still hope to complete it one day. I do believe that I will, the question is when? There's something quite big in the way preventing me from completing this goal at present - real life!
As an avid Liverpool fan all my life, it was hard being younger and having to watch from afar as the lack of money and travel meant that I couldn't be one of the masses out there every Saturday (yes, pre-Sky games were played on a Saturday!), singing on the Kop and enjoying the games from pitchside. I always believed that when I hit the ages of about 17-18+ that I would be an Anfield regular. There was a setback for a number of years in that I couldn't actually drive until I was about 23 and then didn't have any great income until about this time too.
When things did improve for me I did start going to games but not as regularly as hoped. However, taking into account girls, income, distance, the recession, and hobbies, the chance of this target now being met any time in the next 5-10 years seems slim at best.
I never want to be one of those supporters of the grander sides that will happily lap up every ounce of success their team brings but isn't even bothered about making any form of effort to actually go and support them. These are the sort of fans that will be happily traveling down to Wembley with the Stags in May with their mates, but have never seen the insides of Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and the likes, yet will call themselves United / Chelsea fans, be in your face when they win and your club lose and at any other opportunity.
I still make the effort, just not now as much and not anywhere near as much as I'd like to be able to. At the end of the day, I'm not going to be playing football forever, nor refereeing, nor skint! I'm looking forward to taking my son / children to the games and hope we can become regulars and of course that he / she / they share my passion. All will become clearer in time!
Saturday 2 April 2011
9. Improve fitness / health
In fairness, I'm not the most unfit person in the world. I don't look out of shape despite my weight fluctuating these past 7 or 8 years between about 10-13 stone - I say about as I very, very rarely weigh myself, I judge mainly by clothes sizes and appearance.
I consider myself to be active, as I referee 3 or 4 football matches every week, albeit not all of them are overly strenuous, whilst I also try and play active, semi-competitive football once or twice a week. There's certainly no problem with my active lifestyle, my main problem is my diet.
If I have or keep my ambitions of progressing as a referee, whilst also wanting to look nice and trim, my diet and overall fitness needs to improve. At some stage in the future, I could have a fitness test to prove my ability as a referee and I know for a fact if I was to take this any time soon I would not pass it. Even prior to that my progress could be hindered by the fact that my diet and fitness isn't good enough to get me refereeing games as well as I could be if it was much better.
My main issue is the beauty of sweets, chocolates and biscuits, as well as irregular eating patterns and unhealthy meals. Because of this, and the need and intention of improving it, I have set a goal to improve it. It is not just for my progression as a referee that I want to improve in this area but as I now enter the beauty and challenge of parenthood, I want to bring up my children in the best possible way which includes keeping them healthy.
To start with, breakfast. This is non-existent in my world. Monday to Friday I sacrifice eating breakfast for either longer in bed or a morning shower. When I get to work I very rarely fetch anything to eat before about 1pm, getting through the morning on just a coffee, not that I am dependent on this. Saturdays and sundays again I very rarely eat anything before going out to referee. Not good to run around for hours on end on an empty stomach.
Then when I do eat, at work it will typically consist of either a meal of chips and something as I can barely afford their prices to eat healthier, or due to eating later and missing the serving of food, I'll end up with pasties and crisps. Not good at all. At weekends, again, very rarely do I have anything particularly substantial for lunch.
I should supplement all of this for a nice hearty evening meal but again this isn't always the case. I don't like not having a good dinner so try to make this the case but it's not always home cooked, it depends on the state of the house, what the plans are etc. Luckily and thankfully, just recently, Milly and her mum go swimming on Mondays and Wednesdays and so her mum does us a dinner each, which are typically always very healthy, very big and very nice! The other days we tend to find ourselves going out for a bite which doesn't always suit the waistline nor the wallet!
So there's even more than diet and fitness that would improve by eating better, I'm sure money would be saved too!
I'll use this target to set myself challenges, or routines etc and identify what I am not doing and ways of improving them. Hopefully this will spur me on to ensure I eat better, as well as ensuring Milly and my children do too, and I'm sure from this my fitness levels will sky rocket, my ability as a referee will improve, my energy at work and at home will improve and life in general will be so much better!
I consider myself to be active, as I referee 3 or 4 football matches every week, albeit not all of them are overly strenuous, whilst I also try and play active, semi-competitive football once or twice a week. There's certainly no problem with my active lifestyle, my main problem is my diet.
If I have or keep my ambitions of progressing as a referee, whilst also wanting to look nice and trim, my diet and overall fitness needs to improve. At some stage in the future, I could have a fitness test to prove my ability as a referee and I know for a fact if I was to take this any time soon I would not pass it. Even prior to that my progress could be hindered by the fact that my diet and fitness isn't good enough to get me refereeing games as well as I could be if it was much better.
My main issue is the beauty of sweets, chocolates and biscuits, as well as irregular eating patterns and unhealthy meals. Because of this, and the need and intention of improving it, I have set a goal to improve it. It is not just for my progression as a referee that I want to improve in this area but as I now enter the beauty and challenge of parenthood, I want to bring up my children in the best possible way which includes keeping them healthy.
To start with, breakfast. This is non-existent in my world. Monday to Friday I sacrifice eating breakfast for either longer in bed or a morning shower. When I get to work I very rarely fetch anything to eat before about 1pm, getting through the morning on just a coffee, not that I am dependent on this. Saturdays and sundays again I very rarely eat anything before going out to referee. Not good to run around for hours on end on an empty stomach.
Then when I do eat, at work it will typically consist of either a meal of chips and something as I can barely afford their prices to eat healthier, or due to eating later and missing the serving of food, I'll end up with pasties and crisps. Not good at all. At weekends, again, very rarely do I have anything particularly substantial for lunch.
I should supplement all of this for a nice hearty evening meal but again this isn't always the case. I don't like not having a good dinner so try to make this the case but it's not always home cooked, it depends on the state of the house, what the plans are etc. Luckily and thankfully, just recently, Milly and her mum go swimming on Mondays and Wednesdays and so her mum does us a dinner each, which are typically always very healthy, very big and very nice! The other days we tend to find ourselves going out for a bite which doesn't always suit the waistline nor the wallet!
So there's even more than diet and fitness that would improve by eating better, I'm sure money would be saved too!
I'll use this target to set myself challenges, or routines etc and identify what I am not doing and ways of improving them. Hopefully this will spur me on to ensure I eat better, as well as ensuring Milly and my children do too, and I'm sure from this my fitness levels will sky rocket, my ability as a referee will improve, my energy at work and at home will improve and life in general will be so much better!
8. Enjoy every minute
This goal means a lot to me as if I achieve it, then I will have had a great life, enjoyed being a parent, a husband, a role model and so much more. I set this not as a target to just tick off at the earliest opportunity, but to remind me - should I need it, that life doesn't last forever and that I should enjoy every second.
There'll be times where I'll be feeling quite low, stressed, angry or upset. In fairness, it doesn't happen very often as I'm a very chilled person. Work doesn't stress me even though at times it can be quite taxing. People in general don't frustrate me. I've learned to live with the pressures of having a little money and considerable but manageable debt, which I am slowly getting on top of. I'd like to think there's more light than gloom at the end of this particular tunnel. I have a beautiful family, soon to be even more perfect by the arrival of my first child, hopefully followed by many more! (I know, one step at a time!)
I just want to make the most of life. I often imagine how perfect it will be when we have children and that there are so many great things we could do with them and not all at a great cost. I want to make the most of every spare second. I don't want to fall into a routine where work or anything else gets in the way of being part of a brilliant family. I want to be the best I can be and go as far as I can with work and other interests, such as my refereeing but this must not come at a cost to my family. I don't want to be too tired to enjoy weekends, or to waste evenings slumped in front of a TV. I want to never be frustrated with my children, I want them to be able to come to me for a chat, for help with their homework, or a cuddle. I've been waiting for years to be a dad and now it's finally my turn. I'm going to thoroughly enjoy it but I've set this target just as a reminder in case there are times that get the better of me when they really shouldn't. Life is precious and too short. Enjoy it!
There'll be times where I'll be feeling quite low, stressed, angry or upset. In fairness, it doesn't happen very often as I'm a very chilled person. Work doesn't stress me even though at times it can be quite taxing. People in general don't frustrate me. I've learned to live with the pressures of having a little money and considerable but manageable debt, which I am slowly getting on top of. I'd like to think there's more light than gloom at the end of this particular tunnel. I have a beautiful family, soon to be even more perfect by the arrival of my first child, hopefully followed by many more! (I know, one step at a time!)
I just want to make the most of life. I often imagine how perfect it will be when we have children and that there are so many great things we could do with them and not all at a great cost. I want to make the most of every spare second. I don't want to fall into a routine where work or anything else gets in the way of being part of a brilliant family. I want to be the best I can be and go as far as I can with work and other interests, such as my refereeing but this must not come at a cost to my family. I don't want to be too tired to enjoy weekends, or to waste evenings slumped in front of a TV. I want to never be frustrated with my children, I want them to be able to come to me for a chat, for help with their homework, or a cuddle. I've been waiting for years to be a dad and now it's finally my turn. I'm going to thoroughly enjoy it but I've set this target just as a reminder in case there are times that get the better of me when they really shouldn't. Life is precious and too short. Enjoy it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)