I am what I am. I can't change that.
Glenn Murray
If there is ever one thing you learn as a professional footballer, you have a lot of critics and you have the chance to silence your critics.
As far as I am concerned I just want to play games, score as many goals as possible, wherever that may be.
I feel every time I score I prove people wrong. People doubt me all the time. They do that to all players but for me it's, 'He's too slow, he's too old.' It annoys those people every time I score and it drives me on.
Obviously we've got a lot of science behind football these days and we've got a lot of people that can advise us on how best to look after our bodies.
I can remember playing for Carlisle and just running around like a headless chicken telling the others boys not to worry, that I'd do their running for them. I was just so eager and so keen and desperate to be a footballer that I did that.
That's something that drives me on - wanting to prove people wrong. Because the amount of people who have told me, 'no, you're not good enough.' A lot of people fall at that hurdle. But I just kept getting up and looking for that one person who said yes.
I had some great years at Palace, got supported really well by the fans.
Managers can sometimes hold players back for their own benefit.
I have learned a lot over the years. I have learned how best to use my attributes. That comes with a bit of knowledge and a bit of wisdom.
When I left Carlisle United for the first time at the age of 16 in 2000, I hated football.
Scoring goals is the best feeling in the world. It's a habit. It's a drug. Everybody runs away in the playground pretending they've scored in front of thousands of people. I do that for real.
I've had the privilege of playing in our top seven leagues and the main differences when stepping up are organisation, athleticism and decisiveness. Believe me, the gap is even more evident when you achieve the holy grail of the Premier League.
Obviously, I don't have any real speed to work with so I have to use other things. The modern game is very speed based so as soon as managers see that you haven't got that pace it can be tough.
I've had many strike partners over the years and usually their aim is to outscore you - and take great pleasure in doing so.
The space between keepers and defenders is referred to as the 'corridor of opportunity' - a well-hit pass in there has the goalie questioning whether to come into traffic and defenders unsure of whether or where to clear the ball.
The only thing that got me to believe in myself was scoring goals.
When I was young, I would dwell on games and beat myself up about a result. I would lock myself away in the house, almost punishing myself and those around me.
I am taking each game as it comes, enjoying it and taking that little bit of extra time to look around a full stadium, because I know it's not going to last forever. But I will try and make it last as long as possible.
I've only ever moved on when I've not been wanted. Experience has told me, when your time's up, you have to go. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed my time at all the clubs I've been at, and they've all got a special place in my heart.
It was good I left Brighton on a high, like I left Palace on a high but whether Carlisle to Rochdale or Brighton to Palace, as soon as I left that chapter was closed.
It just wasn't the right fit at Bournemouth. I wasn't suited to their style.
I'm never going to be one of these players who dribbles past three and bends it into the top corner from 25 yards. That's not me.
The archetypal No. 10 is a skillful player who is more interested in being in possession than tracking to get the ball back.
The lowest point in my non-league career came when I was a teenage substitute for Workington Reds in a game at Blyth Spartans, and some kids started throwing eggs at me and the other subs when we were warming up.
My time in non-league definitely grounded me and taught me to take nothing for granted - there was no glamour involved, that is for sure.
It was through the Hammerheads that I got a route into the professional game, via a trial at Sunderland from Mick McCarthy and then an invitation to come back to Carlisle in 2004.
I'm an out-and-out striker. It's my job to hold the ball up, to get in the box and to score goals. And, yes, I keep count.
I need balls put in the box and I need chances to be created for me.
For a striker, the goals never move. Whatever division you're playing in.
I want to continue to play and score as many goals as possible for as long as possible.
I grew up desperate to be a professional footballer and I was willing to do anything to be one.
I think there was a time where the target man went out of fashion and it was all about the small and quick striker.
Rather than just sit there, I would prefer to get out and play football. Brighton have let me do that.
My wife is from Brighton so I got a bit of stick for going to Palace even though in my first three-and-a-half years at Brighton I didn't actually face them. So I don't think I completely understood the rivalry.
The Championship is a really tough league with a huge prize at the end of it.
Playing in America led to me getting a chance. Kicking around in the non-leagues I was going nowhere so I'm glad I did it.
To play week in, week out is all I care about.
I watched 'Match of the Day' growing up every week and I'm talking until I was 29-years-old.
It took me a little bit of time in the Premier League. I came back from an ACL and got one goal in I think six months at Crystal Palace. It wasn't great but I got to grips with the Premier League, started to understand what it's about because it's very different to the lower leagues.
Tactics, gameplan and players are all influential in how a team performs but the question is how to manage every individual in your charge and get them to play like a finely tuned orchestra.
No two managers are the same and I believe how players are man-managed on a daily basis has a huge influence on their performance on the field.
Players want a manager you feel in your gut you want to play for - they can have the best tactics and philosophy in the world but if you have lost a player in his heart or head, you have lost him in every other department.
Eddie Howe was the most tactical manager I have worked under.
As a teenager, I was in the Carlisle schoolboy scheme and while I was excited to join at first, I look back on it as a tough few years.
Let's face it, when you're a striker and the coach is playing you at left-back you know your time is up.
When you're a kid football is, and should be, sheer enjoyment.
Anyone who's kicked a ball with their mates and played for their local club knows the buzz of being part of a team, playing without fear or pressure.
I take heart from players around me.
Do I do yoga? Yeah.
