Life, Family & Change

So Christmas is over and the new year is still a couple of days away, its a time of reflection and of anticipation.

A lot has changed for me over the last 12 months, largely for the better. I have a house I share with my partner, thanks to family, friends and charity shops it is fully furnished and a really great place to be. I have a job that enables me to pay my share, something very important to me. I have an extended family who are really great people and it makes me happy to be around them.

Life for me is currently in a good place, I have a lot to be thankful for and I am extremely grateful for the things I've got. But that doesn't mean I wont be looking to change things in the coming year, the only way to get what you want is to go out and work to get it.

Being A Man - My Views On Manliness

If I start talking about being a man and the term manliness many people will instantly assume that I’m being chauvinistic or sexist, however if I was female and I started to talk about being a women and the term femininity then no such assumption would be made. The fact that a man talking about what it means to be manly can be construed as being sexist is, in my eyes, blatant sexism.
I am a man and I consider it to be important for men to be manly. Manlyness to me is the ability to be self reliant, by that I mean to have the basic skills required to provide, for yourself, a reasonable standard of living. A man should have a willingness to work and a drive to be the best he possibly can be at what he is doing. A man should have the knowledge and ability to prepare and cook a variety of meals to a standard high enough to provide more than just sustenance, he should have an understanding of the science of cooking and how flavours work together. A mans home should be clean and well maintained, without appearing overly clinical, it is important for a man to have order in his life whilst being comfortable in his own surroundings. A man should be happy with his own company and should never rely on the continued presence of others. He should, however, also be working to maintain healthy relationships with his friends and family as these are often of vital importance in the pursuit of happiness. Most of all a man must always be responsible fot his own actions, no matter what situation he finds himself in.