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‘Life changing’ for others- no different for me!

40 replies

EnfysDilys · 31/08/2025 16:49

This is (fairly!) lighthearted but a bit of a vent too!
I’m fed up of doing stuff others claim ‘changed their lives’ and feeling not a jot different!
Some examples:
Gave up smoking after 15 years (this was 20 years ago!) no different!
Took up yoga 15 years ago - no different!
Took up running for several years- no different!

Latest one is HRT which SIL declares has totally changed her life, I’ve been back and forth to docs, changed medications etc, but nothing.

Is anyone else feeling the same?

OP posts:
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Mumofteenandtween · 31/08/2025 23:00

EnfysDilys · 31/08/2025 19:01

Still doing yoga and not smoking, but couldn’t hack the running as I found it so boring! I had to lookup what XLOOKUP is, I was thinking along the lines of a dating website! 🤣

XLOOKUP would be the perfect name for a dating website for mathematicians!

TheSilentSister · 31/08/2025 21:47

Being post-menopause. No more periods, weird mood swings, sweatings, joint aches. It just gradually faded away! It's only life changing as I still clearly remember the hell of pre-menopause flooding and the rest of it. I tried HRT but didn't make a blind bit of difference so stopped. I rode it out and life is good again.
Losing weight is always life changing. Not only is it physically healthy but gives a totally different outlook on life, makes you feel younger, more confident and more positive.

northernballer · 31/08/2025 20:05

I know what you mean. I'm the same as pp, I gave up drinking for six months, I put on weight, my skin looked shit, I slept worse and I was moody.

Same with breastfeeding, everyone said the weight just melts off but oh no, on it went for me.

DemonsandMosquitoes · 31/08/2025 19:42

Stopped drinking. Didn’t lose weight and couldn’t see or feel any benefit whatsoever. Stayed off it though.
Am also on HRT (after a cardiac incident). That was resolved through surgery but don’t feel any different otherwise.
Early 50’s.

SunonField · 31/08/2025 19:20

I feel I have had life changing events, but they were bigger things, like learning to drive, having children, finding a job I like, getting married.
Other things have improved my life, such as hobbies, exercise and giving up drinking.

Gerardormikey · 31/08/2025 19:18

I gave up drinking for 3 years. Felt no different.

I’ve taken it up again socially this summer. I’ve been out 4 times with friends to the pub and had some wonderful, tipsy times.

I am coeliac so I can’t eat out either (I won’t take the risk, even if they say it’s gluten free, it’s probably contaminated), so I never went out just to sit there, not eating and not drinking alcohol either.

Being totally sober made me fucking miserable.

capybaracapybara · 31/08/2025 19:17

Mumofteenandtween · 31/08/2025 17:45

The only thing that has changed my life is XLOOKUP.

Wait until you try INDEX MATCH!!!! 😂

oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends · 31/08/2025 19:15

I stopped drinking alcohol.
My sleep is no better, I've not lost any weight.

AIBU to expect better than this since Wednesday ?

EnfysDilys · 31/08/2025 19:01

Still doing yoga and not smoking, but couldn’t hack the running as I found it so boring! I had to lookup what XLOOKUP is, I was thinking along the lines of a dating website! 🤣

OP posts:
CanOfMangoTango · 31/08/2025 18:56

Mumofteenandtween · 31/08/2025 17:45

The only thing that has changed my life is XLOOKUP.

Same same. I got a new job because I could use it which has led to a whole new career!

HelloHattie · 31/08/2025 18:53

The only thing that really has been for me is Mounjaro.

TATT2 · 31/08/2025 18:52

I think you need to have been suffering ill effects to have the "changed my life" experience.
Do you still do your yoga OP? If you do, and you are still a non smoker, you have still done yourself 2 massive favours. You would be feeling very different now, if you hadn't.

WoahThreeAces · 31/08/2025 18:40

I went vegan for several months, I kinda expected to suddenly be all floaty and gorgeous and healthy and earth mother-y. I did it all properly making sure I was getting enough protein etc, lots of grains and veg and tofu 😂 I gained half a stone in a month and felt like shit

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 31/08/2025 18:37

My physical health was night and day different after giving up smoking, no other lifestyle changes involved.

Libido came back, sense of taste came back, sense of smell came back, I could climb stairs without getting breathless, I could walk up a hill without being doubled over gasping for breath, I no longer experienced constant colds, and when I did get a cold, I was no longer reduced to a coughing, side-clutching wreck due to bronchal spasms.

If I hadn't quit when I did I dread to think what state I'd be in now 15 years on. I'm already experiencing the aches, pains, and niggles that go hand-in-hand with age, and my energy isn't what it formerly was. Thank god I'm not dealing with the debilitating effects of tobacco on top.

abracadabra1980 · 31/08/2025 18:33

I hear you-same when I gave up alcohol for a few months - felt no different and I did sleep much better. Only thing that made me feel infinitely better was the hours or two after a sea swim. Now that is a natural dopamine rush if ever there is one - it’s just so COLD!

FenderStrat · 31/08/2025 18:30

I've given up giving up. Works well for me.

daisychain01 · 31/08/2025 18:30

Mumofteenandtween · 31/08/2025 17:45

The only thing that has changed my life is XLOOKUP.

Absolutely, that and helping me with the formula for Concatenate from ChatGPT was a transformative experience!

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 31/08/2025 18:28

Comedycook · 31/08/2025 18:24

Fwiw I don't drink...well maybe once or twice a year...but generally tee total. I'm still fat, my skin doesn't glow and I don't have loads of spare cash

I've also never smoked and can't work out why I'm not a millionaire with all the money I've saved by NOT smoking 20 a day...

Comedycook · 31/08/2025 18:24

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 31/08/2025 17:08

I gave up drinking alcohol. I'd not been a big drinker, maybe shared a bottle with XP over a weekend, the odd glass of gin and tonic when I went out, more over occasions like Christmas...

Waited to feel better, lose weight, see my skin improve, but none of this happened. Perhaps I just didn't drink enough to start with, but I did expect something - I didn't even lose a pound in weight.

Fwiw I don't drink...well maybe once or twice a year...but generally tee total. I'm still fat, my skin doesn't glow and I don't have loads of spare cash

WhenWeWereYounggg · 31/08/2025 18:22

Yeah fuck giving up caffeine! I mean of all the things to give up! 🤣

tigger1001 · 31/08/2025 18:21

I want to say hrt was life changing for me. But what really was life changing was peri menopause- but not in a good way. I suppose it was why it was referred to as the change of life. What hrt did was made me feel much more like me again and took away, or reduced a lot of the awful symptoms I was experiencing.

BerryTwister · 31/08/2025 18:13

Giving up smoking at age 28 is unlikely to make you feel any different, because at that age (unless you have specific medical problems) you’re pretty fit anyway, so the smoking is unlikely to cause symptoms. But I can assure you, the way you feel now is very different to how you’d feel if you hadn’t given up smoking.

I gave up caffeine 20 years ago, and was promised I’d feel amazing. After the nasty (but expected) headache for a week, I felt no different at all. Literally exactly the same. I’ve gradually reintroduced it because children and work have made me knackered and in need of caffeine!

swampwitch0 · 31/08/2025 17:48

Yep.
Hrt - I've tried it all and an endometrial ablation...didn't work and actually made my migraines so bad I had to have injections.
Supplements, kefir, 1200 calorie diet....
Just cost money or made miserable 😕

Mumofteenandtween · 31/08/2025 17:45

The only thing that has changed my life is XLOOKUP.

EnfysDilys · 31/08/2025 17:33

Thank you all, I’m not glass half empty, I am a really positive person, I love doing new stuff, but it’s interesting to hear that others feel the same at times, and thinking that ‘life changing’ and similar phrases are perhaps overused.

OP posts: