What is MY place?

People who know me well enough know that I am a pretty organised person and everything has a place, and everything is (hopefully) neat and tidy and I can find things instead of the stress of thinking “where did I put that?”

That got me thinking recently about where do I fit in, and what is MY place in the grand scheme of things? I move in a variety of circles, albeit not a great number of them, and they are all important to me but where does the sum of these parts place me?

Well, first and foremost I am a Dad and that is my inner circle. My 2 kids are adults now but they still need their Dad no matter how much they might say they don’t! LOL Being a Dad is the highest honour I could have been afforded in life, and this small but loving circle continues to be my inspiration for all that I do. I am a constant work in progress (nobody’s perfect, never too old to learn, etc) and the people that my 2 kids have grown into makes me want to improve myself each and every day, they make me proud each and every day and I hope I am being the kind of Dad and role model that they deserve. This is obviously my favourite circle.

The next circle is that of my friendships. I have known my best mate since we were in Grade 1 at 7 years of age. We’re both 60 now so the longevity of that single friendship has and continues to sustain me through many a difficult time. I can only hope that I have reciprocated the kindness, support, guidance and love that has been shown to me.

I have other friends of course, and there is a small number of them, but again the bonds we have are longlasting and have endured through the years as we have all matured and had families and gone into retirement in some cases. The annual pilgrimage to what is almost the middle of nowhere and to stay for a week and just BE is a crucial element to my mental stability and the fact that we all put in the effort to be there each year for what will be the 35th edition this year says a lot for the love and respect and regard in which we hold each other. It’s a wonderful circle to be in!

The next circle is that which holds my interests – sport, music, reading, trying to be fit and healthy (of both body and mind) and which I see as my Self Improvement Circle. Whether it is playing golf (hopefully well!) or making fruit smoothies instead of popping in to KFC, I want to be the bests version of myself that I can. I will never stop trying to show the world just what I can give back to it.

Finally, there is the broad outer circle of my life where things are important in their own way yet they do not define me. Oh boy, they CHALLENGE me to the max but each interaction with any other person is an opportunity to grow and I hope that I can be a better person after each encounter, however small or however little time it may have taken. I have risen to many challenges in my life and some were way harder to face than others, but through each challenge and each encounter – fleeting or otherwise – I have gained knowledge, confidence and a semblence of self belief that had been missing since a young age. I am now feeling that I am getting closer to becoming the kind of person that I want my kids to admire and one that I am proud to be.

That’s MY place.