When you are growing up to even be involved in a Scotland squad is a massive achievement, to go on and play for your country is an amazing thing, something I will never take for granted.
John McGinn
I'm ambitious, which is why I chose Villa.
For every Scottish player and whoever qualifies to play for Scotland, it's important to put in the performances and, when a squad is coming up, to stay on your toes and prove you deserve to be there.
It's never nice looking over your shoulder and needing other results but sometimes that happens in football. It's a lot better to know your future is in your own hands.
If you get too high it comes back to bite you on the backside so I was always aware in spells before when I've done well in a season, eventually there was a wee dip.
Hopefully I can challenge myself and establish myself as a Premier League player for Aston Villa.
When a Scottish player goes down the road you're always going to get doubters. You always get people saying you're from a pub league.
Going to places like Tynecastle, where you're so close to the crowd, you get reminded how ugly you are and stuff like that!
Hibs are such a brilliant club, amazing training ground, good coaches, and a great platform for Scottish players to get better.
All you want to do is first and foremost a job for the team but if you can entertain the people in the stands, and make then enjoy their day, then it helps.
People do like to talk us down, it's a Scottish thing. We are pessimistic, we look for the negatives all the time.
We don't want to have to rely on last-minute goals every time!
I think it's really hard to replace what Scott Brown brought to Scotland. He was one of a kind and there aren't too many players like Broony. But for me, the more you try and replicate him, the more difficult it becomes.
You will always have people to prove wrong. I always have done and I always will. I use that to spur me on and stay hungry and that's the big aim.
In Scotland you can enter a comfort zone. I felt I had already developed a reputation there and felt it was important to prove I can play elsewhere.
Well I'm still a massive Celtic supporter. And I always will be. That will never leave you.
You want to be challenging for titles and in semi-finals and finals. Everyone is excited by that.
You learn more from defeats and it makes you hungry to go and improve the next time. That's the way I have dealt with things during my whole career.
No matter where it is or who it's against, I will always be available for Scotland as long as I am fit.
I'm going from Somerset Park one week to Wembley the next. It's crazy but that's football. You don't get to where you want to be without going through all these different places.
Sometimes a manager will assess the other team through the warm-up and try to get an inkling as to what way they are going to be playing.
I've worked under a lot of managers, whether it's the national team or at St Mirren and everyone has their moments. I think it is important, you can't just let things pass if they are not good enough.
There's always going to be that question going up a division. Can you do it? Are you only good against the players in a lower division?
We can take these things for granted, when we have everything on a plate.
Football is a great place to get away from things, and going over to Greece was amazing and I've loved it - it is basically getting away from all the talk.
There's something special about big midweek games at Easter Road, under the lights, that makes us have that little bit extra about us.
I know I have been compared with Broony and he is a player I've looked up to massively. When I first went into the Scotland squad he took me under his wing.
Every young kid growing up playing football dreams of playing in those big famous stadiums.
You need to be brave to able to stand up to tough atmospheres and against top players.
The benefit of coming to a place like Greece and winning is priceless for your development.
I think you're always fighting a losing battle when you're Scottish and I don't think that's right. I think the way that people look at Scottish football is wrong, but at the same time, we have to start proving it on the park and start showing it again.
Sometimes you just need a wee bit time away from football to freshen things up.
If you've not got the doubts to go and prove people wrong, that's when you get into that comfort zone and stop progressing.
I think people maybe had a perception of me that I was just a hard working player, just a runner. Don't get me wrong, I think I am that but I've got a lot more to my game than that.
If someone is going to spend a whole game marking you, then there may be games when I will have to sacrifice myself for the team and take them away and create space for a team-mate.
That's football. Sometimes luck swings your way and sometimes it doesn't.
I was fortunate to be able to go to the Scotland games with my grandad and it's scary to think I could now be playing in one.
Scoring at the big stadiums in Glasgow is something I have dreamed about doing since I was a wee boy and now I have managed to do that.
When you have a good relationship with a manager, and he leaves, it is disappointing.
You have to be able to deal with the pressures that playing for a big club like Hibs brings and it's not for everyone.
You work so hard to get to a level and you need to grab your chance with both hands.
Alan Hutton and I are always fighting the corner for Scottish football. It's a really tough league down here with a lot of quality players trying to get into the Premier League.
If you are going to be successful in football you have to make sacrifices and that's something I am happy to do.
Opponents know how to get the fouls and it's gone against me a couple of times.
To be honest, I had a brilliant group of players at Hibs and the support were very fair with me. They didn't make it difficult.
I look at the likes of Darren Fletcher and Scott Brown and they're just normal people. They are humble and work away to become the best they can. That's the path I've tried to follow.
I'm the kind of guy who always gives 100 per cent.
You cannot look back and think what if.
I want to play for Scotland at a major tournament, that is the dream and the drive for me.
I remember when I was training with St Mirren as a young boy Ralston was my Hampden and my Wembley.
