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I want to play for England, I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I give it everything I can, not just for me but for my team-mates as well.
I'm in such a privileged position to class football as my full-time job, to be captain of England, captain of Manchester City. I'm very lucky.
I'm a very motivated person, and that goes hand in hand with being very organised. I always plan what I need to do to get the best out of every day.
I have to keep performing well for club and country. That's what I always want to do. If I do that, then that extra media attention comes towards me.
Mum stayed home to look after us, and Dad was an electrician, working long hours to support us. We never went without, but we did have to be careful.
Since the World Cup in 2015, we've all experienced an increase in the interest in women's football, which has led to more and more fans supporting the team.
At Arsenal, we train for about two hours a day and are treated just the same as the men. It makes a big difference, and it gives young girls something to aim for.
Opinion of the sport is constantly getting better. Our semi-professional league is starting to change people's attitudes, and it'll get better as the years go on.
It's not so long ago I was paying £250 a season to play. I don't think in my lifetime it will ever get to wage parity with the men, but we have made so many great strides already.
You have to be able to shut out everything else, all the distractions and criticism. There's a lot of work that went on off the pitch, a lot of conversations, to make that happen.
When you're training every day, recovery is so important. I find that foam rolling helps me to make sure I don't get tight anywhere so that I keep mobilised and keep on top of things.
Playing for England, it's a massive honour to wear the shirt anyway, but to come and play at Wembley Stadium, in terms of how women's football has developed, it's a massive opportunity.
I think women should inspire. It is our duty to inspire young girls to play a sport, whether it's just for enjoyment and keeping fit or to actually go on and try and make a career out of it.
I've never, ever set my sights on getting 100 - it's more my family. My dad's been counting down the caps for every single home game, and he's been to every single one I've played in England.
I think people admire us for dedicating our lives to be professional athletes. But we need more people to come and watch club games; we need to encourage girls to play football from an early age.
You get the best out of the girls when they're enjoying themselves, when they've got a smile on their face - they're working hard on the training pitch, but they're allowed to relax off it as well.
My role models were Kevin Phillips and David Beckham, and, for me, now girls can look up to female footballers and want to aspire to be them and try to follow in their footsteps and even be better than us.
I think a massive part of players wanting to stay in England was to be able to be on the ball every day, playing the sport you love, and being able to class it as a job and dedicating your whole life to it.
As a full-time athlete, you put your body through a lot. A foam roller works like a self-massage to roll out the knots in your quads, your hamstrings, and your back so that you feel looser and more prepared.
As captain, I want us to be ambitious; I want us to be winners - but above all, I hope we will show how much we love the game by passing the ball and achieving success through our technical and tactical approach.
My first job was working Saturdays in Sports Soccer in Newcastle. I only used to work three or four hours a week, so it wasn't a huge amount, but I do remember spending the first pay I got on a new pair of trainers.
We've had to pay to play. We've had to borrow kit. We've had to train on a Friday night. Maybe a lot of boys, given that opportunity, would slip away, whereas we've had the mentality to go, 'I really want this. I'm going to show that I can do this.'
With the likes of social media and outside influences - we're going to be on telly a lot more - I think it's important that you listen to the right people, whether it's your team-mates, your parents, or your coaches, and don't take too much to heart.
We're doing a lot of work in schools getting girls to play football, breaking down any taboos there might be, and we're seeing them get interested and bring their families along, where they have such a good match day experience that they're coming back.
The captaincy is about putting the team first, making sure the girls are happy - that they're comfortable with the processes we have, the way that the schedule is - to be able to challenge people on and off the pitch: not telling them off, but advising them.
Michael Owen's wonder goal against Argentina in 1998 was one defining memory, and as a Sunderland supporter, I remember crying my eyes out after they lost that play-off final against Charlton. Much as that hurt, it made me realise how much I wanted to play the game.
I knew there was going to be pressure on me with the captaincy. I knew people would be writing about my performances more than anyone else's, but that's not a problem because I have my dad telling me about my performance every single game, and he is my biggest critic.
When I was named captain under Mark Sampson, there were a lot of questions about whether I was ready for it. I wasn't a certain starter. There were more experienced players than me; I was only 25. I was trying to nail down a centre-half spot, and it was a difficult situation.
The women's game has grown, but when I was playing at Arsenal, I don't think people realised how good we actually were. I think there's just a perception that we just play football, but we're not very good, and it was a challenge for us to try and prove those type of people wrong.
We've got two semi-professional leagues; we've got many other leagues, more coaching opportunities for youngsters. You never had that when I was younger. You had to go and join in with the boys - that helped me as a player, but I think girls feel more confident playing with other girls of the same age.
I think that what's happening is that girls are enjoying playing. It's a lot more acceptable, and now we have a Women's Super League with hugely dedicated female role models - really committed players who people can see are dedicated and training as hard if not harder than any male players - that's all progressing the sport.