Joe Canning admits he doesn't "obsess" over hurling the way he used to and says he has learnt to switch off from the game.
The Galway forward gears up for a tilt at a first ever All-Ireland title this summer and the Tribesmen will enter the series high on confidence after a league final victory over Tipperary.
Canning enters his 10th season in a Galway jersey, but says he has matured in his role during his time on the inter-county panel.
"I don't obsess about it in the way that I used to, but when I have to I'm tuned into it," he told Off The Ball's Dave McIntyre. "But I learnt to balance my life a little bit more and not think about it 24/7.
"You need to switch off because it's pretty full on nowadays between training and recovery. I make time for other things, because you start to realise that there's a more serious life out there.
"When you get to my age you have to think more about family and work, it's not just about hurling."
Defined
In his time with the Tribesmen, Galway have won just a single Leinster title in 2012. Canning himself has won three All-Stars and says that even without an All-Ireland, the lack of a Liam MacCathy won't "define" him.
"To other people in Ireland, it probably will," he concedes.
"There are loads of great hurlers who have ever won an All-Ireland. Look at all the great Waterford hurlers. The Ken McGraths and John Mullanes.
"They will always be idols to me. Many in my generation would have grown up watching them."
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