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Playing left midfield a lot at West Ham has been tough but the manager has put me there and I've got every faith in what he's doing.
You see a lot of depression among injured sports stars who would rather be reaching their goals or at least doing what they love doing.
It doesn't matter if a footballer is earning £100,000 a week or £1,000 a week the first thing you need to do is work hard for your team.
From a personal point of view, when you're hitting the back of the net at Premier League level people recognize that you're doing something right.
I trained at Celtic when I was a kid. I used to train at Rangers as well. I wore my Celtic shorts underneath my Rangers shorts when I trained there!
Me and my two brothers painted a football pitch and used the net from scaffolding for goals with bits of wood, although they were burnt down in the end.
There are many stages, but the first step is an absolute given - the fans want blood, sweat and tears for the badge. That is no different in any workplace.
I went away with Scotland because I was trying to get some game-time somewhere but it just wasn't working out with Scotland, the results weren't happening.
My mum has had heart-attacks, a stroke, and it all coincided with me being called up for Scotland so the timing was not good. Thankfully, she is a great woman.
I think you go through a stage where you're constantly asking questions because you're learning every day, and when it's like that you need to bring results with it.
I've played at the top level for years now and know it's the small percentages that matter. That's what the difference is between you getting to a major tournament or not.
I firmly believe that the Premier League is the best league in the world, and when Norwich came in for me, I made the step because I believe that Norwich can kick on again.
Luckily, I have a thing inside me that I wake up and I am happy every day. But boys and girls want to live the dream and are looking at everything you do on a day-to-day basis.
I know myself that when there is a manager who knows how to get the best out of you then it's different - and that's why I chose Villa. I wanted to work with Steve Bruce again.
At club level you have a lot of lads getting paid and stuff like that, but you would play for your country just for the love of playing for your country. That's the truth, for me anyway.
This is what footballers are used to. You're used to playing matches throughout the Christmas period so for us it doesn't feel weird. We're working on Christmas Day and we've always done it.
I scored nine goals for Hull and a hat-trick for Scotland in the first half of the season, you don't do that and then become an average player overnight, so I know I can contribute to West Ham.
For me, it was just a case of seeing what stage I could actually get to. For every kid it's the same, you don't know how far you can go until you get a bit older and things start to become a reality.
When you're Scottish you're brought up to play anywhere and it's fine to play for one or two games but you need to play in your right position, especially on the back of scoring nine goals for Hull City.
The first thing I remember was going up to Celtic Park to watch Celtic, feeling the full effect of the stadium. When you see the players on the park for the first time, you get sucked in and it's like a dream.
I've seen Graeme Jones getting absolutely crucified and I'm thinking, 'You've got it wrong,' He's one of the best things that's happened to the SFA. He's one of the main guys trying to drive the nation forward.
I've been brought up with a family that is patriotic and loved the Scotland-England games so to see it first hand when we played down there at Wembley and lost 3-2, with goals from set pieces, it was hard to take.
There is a different sort of edge when you come up against England. Even when it's a friendly game you still get that fear in you that if you get beat it won't be good but if you win it will be the best thing going.
There's been many highs throughout my international career which I'll always remember with fondness, including my debut against Northern Ireland, winning two international player of the year awards, and my hat-trick in Malta.
I've shown I can perform at Premier League level and that's where I want to be playing for the next few years. That's where I want to stay, it's the big league and I'm driving towards being there for as long as I possibly can.
At the start of the season, everyone says you want to go up automatic because the play-offs are intense. But if you go up through the play-offs, it's the best feeling because it's Wembley. But to lose there, I would not like to be on the end of that.
When I had other things to deal with in my personal life, people were telling me to come and play for Scotland. So I'd come but then not play. I'd prefer people just to be honest with me and say whether they really want me there or just as a back-up.
On the international scene you travel away, come back, feel sluggish and it's very difficult, so my decision was so that I could save myself for West Ham. I know Scotland fans won't like that, but they needed a young, fit, energetic lad to come in there.
When I started going to see Celtic, it was just before Henrik Larsson signed. We used to try to skip into the games. You would stand outside, waiting for someone who had a spare ticket and then give him the wee puppy eyes in the hope he'd give it to you!
A massive thank you also goes to everyone at the SFA for looking after me since I was a young boy, including Frank Reilly, Doc McLean, Jonesy, managers, coaches, staff, the physios, massage therapists, kit men and the media staff I've worked with over the years.
It has never been about me. That's not the way I am. With Scotland, it has always been about the squad, the lads who were trying to get some big results to start the Euro 2020 campaign, rather than lads who were away from it, who people didn't know the truth about.
The scaffolders and builders from demolition companies nearby used to play each other for 20 quid a man - the tackles were mad. I played for the local estate against them one day and we won, there was a full-scale riot. 'He's a ringer' they were saying. Half of them were drunk so I could get the ball and just run and around them - I was only 12!