David Stidston
Bio
My name is David Stidston, and I am a single father to my 8-year-old daughter Mia. We live in the beautiful city of Hobart in Tasmania, Australia. I am currently self-employed, working as a freelancer and casually in market research.
Stories (216)
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When Good Health Is Absent!
We know that in order to obtain success and prosperity in life, that making sacrifices are pretty much a necessity. We simply can't keep doing the basics, or maintain the life we are living, and expect to generate success and wealth for ourselves. Such rewards come from making changes, working hard, remaining perseverant, remaining patient, being resilient, and of course, giving up some things we enjoy and treasure in life. Many people actually make sacrifices, and truly believe they are giving up lots, in an attempt to create success and prosperity, and they wonder why they still can achieve the results they are looking for. The problem is, the majority of these people are actually sacrificing the wrong things. In order to generate some short term satisfaction, people refuse to give up things such as coffee dates with friends, or drinking nights out with friends, or watching Netflix, or watching their favorite television shows, or unnecessary shopping. It's not to say we can't enjoy these things, especially spending time with our friends, but it needs to be on a far less regular basis than what most people do. Then we have other people who will refuse to part with some assets, valuing them far more than the success and wealth they desire. Sometimes we need to sell off some assets to generate some extra cash for ourselves. Many business owners would know what I am referring to here, as we just need to do whatever is needed to generate some cash flow. Sacrifice is about giving up what we enjoy, along with the material things in life, and even time we would normally spend on ourselves. But there are a couple of things that most people sacrifice, all for the aim of creating success and wealth, that should never be sacrificed!
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
What Do You Want?
2020 wasn't exactly one of the most memorable years for many individuals worldwide, not at least in a good sense anyway. With the spread of COVID-19, we not only witnessed the disease causing millions of deaths and cases of illness, all around the globe, but the flow on effect also resulted in numerous job losses, economic devastation, travel restrictions, and a real strangulation on our lifestyle. A couple of lessons that 2020 hopefully taught many people though was firstly, we should never take people or the blessings we have in life for granted, and secondly, we should be really careful what we wish for in the future. With these couple of lessons, I am of course firstly referring to the fact that we should ensure we cherish every moment we have with our loved ones, because we just never know what disease, illness, or tragic event, may lay around the corner, and our time with these precious people in our life, can be taken away in the blink of an eye. What I'm mainly referring to though, is employment. So many people constantly whinge and complain about their job, how much they hate it, how much they dislike the company they work for, how they hate the work they do, how they dislike their boss, and how they wish they didn't have to work at all. That wish came true for many people last year, but in typical human fashion, rather than comprehend how blessed and grateful they were to have had a job at all, whilst they were working there, and understanding how they were actually taking the blessing of having a job for granted, they instead shifted their focus to whinging and complaining about the fact they all of a sudden were facing life without an income. It was the government's fault, or it was this, or it was that!
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
A Day Of Rest
I was raised in a family who always acknowledged and respected Sundays as being a day of rest, and a day dedicated to quality family time. For much of my childhood, Sundays were regularly spent getting up and going to church with my parents and my sister, followed by a delicious Sunday roast lunch and an afternoon spent at Grandma and Grandpa's house, before my parents and my sister would return home together for Sunday dinner, whilst watching some wholesome family television shows together. Yep, those were the days. How I miss them so. I don't know whether it was the era itself, or the fact that I was a child, or even a combination of both, but it really felt like the world was so much more relaxed and family orientated back then. Shops and most businesses were all closed, with the only places open being a few petrol stations, corner delicatessens, and fast food outlets. Nowadays, if the shops are closed for just one day at all, such as for a public holiday, people carry on like the the world is going to end. Why have we gone from being a civilization who once viewed Sundays from exactly the same perspective as my parents taught me, being a day of rest and a family day, to becoming just another typical, average day of the week? Why is there all of a sudden this urgent need for clothes shops to be open on a Sunday? Why is there an urgent need to have any non-essential businesses, shops, and services open on a Sunday? The simple answer; money and greed! Corporations and certain business owners are so desperate for the dollars, they couldn't care less about rest days or family days. To them, life is all about profits, profits, and more profits, even if this comes at the expense of denying people the opportunity for family time and a day of rest. Now I'm not going to deny the convenience factor to many non-essential businesses being open on a Sunday, which is especially helpful to those who perhaps work full time Monday to Saturday, or even Monday to Friday, as it allows them that extra day to get shopping done, but why can't shops be open later during the week for flexibility instead?
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Choose Your Circle Wisely
As we continue to get older, we also start to become wiser, well at least most of us anyway. Naturally, as we continue to gain experience in all the ups and downs that life delivers us, that experience helps us to learn, grow, and develop, as a person. Some use it to their advantage to better themselves, others use it to become more bitter towards others, and towards life itself instead. One thing I have learned personally, especially over the past decade or so, is how one cannot rely upon others in life, for anything. I'm talking about support, care, trust, compassion, moral support, financial help, encouragement, loyalty, true friendship, and true love. It's been especially evident to me over these past couple of months, as I have had to deal with what has undoubtedly been the most difficult and painful period of my life, and yet no one has been there to support me, comfort me, help me, or uplift me. Now don't take me the wrong way here, because I refuse to play the victim of circumstance, nor am I in any way looking for sympathy, because today's message isn't about seeking attention whatsoever. Today's message is about increasing awareness about having to deal with adversity on our own, and how we need to prepare for that, whilst it's also about not putting faith in others except ourselves, and ensuring that the people we spend our time with, are actually beneficial to us. When I talk of being beneficial to us, I don't mean that we need to be seeking and spending more time with people who are a convenience to us, and whom we use just to get our own way in life. I mean we need to be spending time with people who are beneficial to us because they are goals driven individuals, they are positive minded, they are encouraging, they are morally supportive, they want to see us succeed, they are motivational, they are compassionate, they are genuinely caring, they are generous, and they are inspirational. It's these type people we should want to be more like, so we can in turn inherit the same characteristics, whilst remaining goals driven and positive ourselves.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
I Am Done!
Have you ever experienced a time in your life where someone, or something, was just unrelenting in upsetting you, causing you pain, causing you stress, causing you heartache, causing you suffering, causing you hardship, or causing you continual unhappiness? Did it become so bad that you just reached breaking point, leading you to blurt out words to the effect of "I'm done", or "I'm over it", or "I've had enough of this"? You'd certainly be a rare case if there hasn't been some time in your life in which you just simply had enough of someone, or something, that was continually getting you down. I know I have had many such times in my life. A couple of these instances spring to mind. I previously had a girlfriend who was just constantly negative, and constantly moody, and it came to a point where I became so frustrated, that I finally ended the relationship. I was just so over going from being in a happy, positive, and cheerful mood, to a grumpy, angry, and annoyed, mood, following every second conversation with this particular girl. She just had this knack of dragging me down, and making me feel bad. Even despite having several conversations with her about how she was making me feel, and how her negativity and moods were affecting me, nothing changed. That was just a part of her personality unfortunately, and it's a shame she was unable to control her emotions. Personally, I don't believe it's the right thing to do, in asking someone to change for us, and I didn't go down that path of asking her to change for me, but it became apparent that we just weren't compatible together. I needed someone like minded, more positive, optimistic, and supportive. The solution to my unhappiness in the relationship aspect of my life, was that I had to make a change. As much as I didn't want to have to break her heart, or anyone else's for that matter, I had no other choice, as I was tired of how she was making me feel sad and unhappy all the time. A relationship shouldn't feel like that, so I developed the courage to break it off with her. It was one of the toughest things I have ever had to do, yet it was necessary!
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Excuses Stop Here!
Time would have to be humankind's best friend, yet also our worst enemy. Time is one of the most precious things we have in our life, yet it is also one of the most unkindest things to us. Time gives us opportunity and moments of happiness, yet it also steals them away just as fast. Time provides us with many happy memories, yet also leaves us with many regrets. Time is one of those things we can choose to view either in a positive or negative light, or even both, as I have demonstrated above. Haven't we enough negativity in life though, than to add yet another thing on that list? As humans, we have a bad habit of judging people and things, and time is another victim of that. The truth is, time is blamed unfairly, and all because we just have to find an outlet to lay our blame and excuses on, for all our mistakes, errors, and missed opportunities, rather than being accountable and taking ownership for them. Time is something that none of us know exactly how much we have been granted to live through. Each and every one of us have an expiry date, and it's unavoidable. Some of us are blessed with an abundance of years, whilst some lives are unfairly cut short, but we can't dwell on what we can't control. When our time is up, it's up! What we can control is what we do with that time we are alive, and we do that by making every day count, and living each day like it is our last. Most of us don't live that way however. We live with this foolish belief that we will live forever, or we have plenty of time left to do the things we want to do in life, and in doing so, we start taking time for granted. We begin wasting away these precious days, simply muddling through life, doing what we are told by others, pleasing others, and applying our energy to things that aren't of great importance, rather than to the people and things that should be a priority. It's that mentality of living life and believing there will always be a tomorrow, when that is never ever guaranteed.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Take The High Road
Okay, I'm going to admit that emotional control is not one of my strong points. It's one of the reasons why I have become so active and engaged in personal development and mindset training, over these past few years, as I know I need to continue working on better controlling my emotions. I still lack that mental strength to control my emotions when someone gets under my skin, like most of us do. It's hard to just sit back and allow someone to throw a heap of unwarranted criticism or verbal abuse at us, without responding in frustration and defending ourselves. We listen to some things they say, or we hear gossip they spread about us, or we read certain comments they write on social media, and it annoys us, because we know it's untrue and unfair. Naturally, we arc up, respond, and become defensive. We stand up for ourselves, and that's fine, but we too often forget that those who love to criticize, judge, ridicule, mock, and attempt to emotionally hurt us, are in fact dealing with mental scars of their own. Because their life is unfulfilling, unsatisfying, miserable, and void of success, they seek an outlet to take out their frustrations, and that can quite often be us. The problem with them is they lack the willpower, motivation, and courage, to pursue their own goals, to create a life of their desire, and instead spend their time whinging and complaining about how life is so unfair, blaming other people or circumstances for their unhappiness in life. In summary, these people are just brimming with negativity, and when someone is constantly negative, they are ultimately toxic to others, especially you and I!
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Falling Into A Rut
Have you ever reached a time in your life where you feel you're life is going nowhere? Every day feels like groundhog day, and you're just not finding any satisfaction, any excitement, or any happiness, in life. It's like life has just become a constant pattern of wake up, work, eat, sleep, and repeat. The only thing worth looking forward to are the weekends and time off from work, and even then you aren't even doing anything worth writing home about. Personally, I have experienced such times myself on a couple of occasions, throughout my life. You find yourself in a position where you start questioning if there is anything more to life than what you're doing. Although you understand that work is a part of life, and all, as too is sleeping and eating, but apart from a short burst of satisfaction from going out with your mates on the weekend, or spending some quality time with your partner or family, unless you are blessed with wealth, it's easy to believe that life really hasn't much to offer. When I found myself in this position a few years back, I really questioned my purpose in life. Surely I wasn't destined to be spending the next 30 years of my life getting up at 6am, eating breakfast, battling peak hour traffic, going to a job I hated just to get paid an income, battling peak hour traffic again, eating dinner, exercising, and then going to bed, every single day, bar weekends and annual leave days. It made no sense to be muddling my way through life void of satisfaction and happiness, yet my routine was pretty much exactly how we were educated to believe that life would be. Eat, work, exercise, and sleep. It's sad that it took me 37 years of my life to realize that, not only was there more to life, but it was up to me to dispel this crap about how we are taught how life should be, and how we should live it.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
What You Think, You Become
It's interesting that so many of us are so routined and committed in going to the gym regularly, so we can work hard on toning our body and building our muscles. Why is it so interesting, you may well ask? Well, let's get one thing clear firstly, it's definitely not a bad thing to be going the gym, because it's fantastic for our health and well-being to be exercising intensely and regularly, in turn burning fat, and keeping in shape. I would love to know though, how many gym goers genuinely do it for the sole purpose of benefiting their health, or whether they actually go to the gym just for the sake of looking attractive in the mirror and to others. There's no doubt there is some element to the health side of things for everyone, but is that truthfully their sole purpose, or is it really just a vanity thing? Only each individual can answer that question honestly to themselves. At the end of the day though, it's great that these gym junkies are making the effort to exercise, as most other people are just downright lazy and lack willpower, so a massive credit to them. As far as why I find it interesting though? Well, most of these people who are committed and routined in going to the gym to tone and strengthen their muscles, in order to feel healthy and attractive, actually fail to apply the same level of commitment and energy into strengthening one of the most important components of the human body, the mind. I'm certainly not picking on the gym junkies though, as once again, they at least have the willpower, motivation, and commitment, to be getting off their butt and exercising. They are at least strengthening the physical appearance of their body, and keeping healthy, whilst most other people aren't strengthening and conditioning their body whatsoever, including their mind.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Don't Give A Damn!
Have you ever seriously considered the reasons behind why you aren't achieving the success you desire in life, or the happiness, satisfaction, and prosperity, you yearn for, for that matter? You might be happy to admit to fault, and take ownership as to why you haven't achieved these. Perhaps you admit to being lazy, and you just haven't got off your butt to commit to achieving your goals? Perhaps you blame other people or circumstances? Perhaps you believe you just aren't lucky and blessed in life? Perhaps you believe you're just not destined for such rewards, and that life just totally sucks? Whatever the reason, or reasons, you'd have to be foolish to accept there is just one secret ingredient, one component, behavior, characteristic, action, or habit, to achieving success, happiness, satisfaction, and prosperity. All these blessings require us to inhabit the characteristics of determination, resilience, patience, perseverance, drive, motivation, and commitment, within us. We know that we have to work extremely and consistently hard. We know that we have to believe in ourselves, and be positive minded. All these things and more, are all necessary if we want to achieve the above results. On the flip side, there are the success killers, of course. The three biggest reasons behind why so many people live their life in failure, unhappiness, and dissatisfaction, is because of fear, doubt, laziness, or all three combined. There is one massive weakness that humankind in general have though, when it comes to the reasons why so many of us live such an unfulfilled and unhappy life, and that is our excessive desire to impress others, please others, and have others like us.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
Time Is Precious, And So Are Your Children!
Undoubtedly, one of the greatest blessings in life is having children. Any genuinely loving parent would agree that their child or children are the most precious asset/s to them in life. Such is the power of love we have for them, they mean the world to us. Let's be honest here also though, parenting is far from an easy job, and there are many times our children severely test our patience, cause us stress, make us angry, are disrespectful to us, are disobedient towards us, and they completely exhaust us. At the end of the day though, we still love them with all our heart, and we want nothing but the best for them in life. We often forget though, that part of giving the best to them in life is giving ourselves to them. What I mean by that is giving our time to them, and quality time at that. As a parent myself, I know the importance of having a mental break from our children also, just having some time out for ourselves, or sharing some private time with our partner, both being vitally important and beneficial for us, so we can be the best version of ourselves. The thing is though, are we really spending enough quality time with our children? Part of wanting the best for them in life also includes providing for them. Providing for them consists of ensuring they are adequately fed, they have shelter, they have clothing, they have a comfortable bed to sleep in, and basically, anything that offers them a decent quality of life. All these provisions cost money of course, so we need money, and we obtain that money from our job. This is where the problem lies.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Families
A Fulfilled Life
What does it mean to live a fulfilled life? Do we even know what the feeling of fulfillment is like, or an even bigger question, do we even really know what fulfillment is? Fulfillment is defined as "the achievement of something desired, promised, or predicted", but it is also defined as "satisfaction or happiness as a result of fully developing one's potential". Perhaps we have achieved a feat or goal in the past, and it has indeed brought us happiness and satisfaction, but has it really provided us lifelong fulfillment? Has it transformed our life, or was it just a personal accomplishment that delivered us short term satisfaction and happiness? If we look at the last four words of the definition, we would identify the greatest gap as to why so many people live unfulfilled lives. How many people honestly make the effort to fully develop their own potential? One thing is for sure, it's an extremely low percentage of people. I believe it starts with our childhood, as the way in which we are taught by our parents, teachers, and society, we are influenced to believe that our years of education are basically from the day we are born, through until our late teens/early twenties, once we complete school and university. The encouragement, support, and urgency, for us to continue receiving education in life, completely stops. No longer do we sit in a classroom listening to a teacher feed us with education and information, plus our parents begin to take a back seat in telling us what to do as we enter into adulthood, and instead allow us more independence and freedom. The truth is, the real education in life starts from when we actually leave school and university, because that's when we truly start to experience life, which then gives us the opportunity to learn, grow, and develop.
By David Stidston5 years ago in Motivation
