How did your decade pan out?

[Animum2]

For me it started in a middling way trying to get myself in a good place to get out of a going nowhere waste of time relationship and ended up happily married :)

Lost a couple of cats along the way but gained two guinea pigs and another cat

Got made redundant after 11 years in same job in 2013 but found current job the following year

Overall personally it's been the best decade of my life :)

Misery post - absolute arse and delighted it is over.

Good things did happen, but we had such huge setbacks that we are still trying to overcome.

I'm actually really looking forward to a fresh start.

I started it at 22, just qualified as a teacher and in a bloody awful relationship.

I’ve ended it at 32, somehow still teaching, ditched the awful ex, had a fun year living in London, fell in love with an old friend who I’ve now married and had two kids with. It turned out good!

Started at 21 in an unhappy relationship and generally making a mess of my life with debts, failing at uni, falling out with friends etc.

Ending it at 31 in a very happy relationship, no debts, decent job and a nice home. My health could be better though as I suffer with bad anxiety

25 just graduated in degree, worked myself up to a senior. Brought a house and sold it. Renovated another one. Had DD.

This time 10 years ago DH and I were celebrating in the Maldives. It was a "fuck it all", blow-out holiday - we'd been trying to conceive for over a year, and had 3 unsuccessful attempts to buy a house, so decided sod it, if there's no home and no children in our future, we may as well see the world.

By the following March I was pregnant. A year after our DD was born, we managed to buy our first home. A couple of years later, I got pregnant with her little brother - and unlike the first time, that one took a single, solitary unprotected shag!

It's been a good decade, overall. Less travelling than we originally planned though!

Not been that great really. I would like the 2010s to pee off and do one!!
My daughter has struggled to fit in and we were told she may be on the autistic spectrum and wouldn't cope at the state secondary school by her teacher. She'd had loads of assessments done as all her teachers since nursery were concerned about her. So we decided to enrol her in private school with small classes, and as we have 2 kids we had to enrol both. It left us pretty broke. We can pay the basic bills etc but not been a lot left over and alot of credit card debt. It's been a huge sacrifice and I feel like it's been all hard work and no play! She did well in her GCSEs and now started at the local state 6th form and it's going ok. But she still struggles to fit in and always will. I've felt so much pain seeing her pain and loneliness. Even tonight her so called 'friends' are all going to a party and she hasn't been invited which is what it's been like all her life. She also had anorexia and was close to death and in hospital 5 years ago. It took about 2 years to properly recover from that. Moving forward to 2020 I just want her to find her tribe which maybe she will - hopefully at Uni or at work, and stay well. I want to reclaim a bit of life for my husband and I too and try and learn to have fun again and enjoy things without so much worry. Hopefully we can have a holiday again.

Got married, had two babies, moved house, changed careers, said goodbye to my beloved grandma, said hello to some amazing new friends.

I'm ending the decade with a marriage stronger than I could ever have imagined and finally feeling I've started to find my feet as a mother.

Do I have as much money as I thought I would? Absolutely not. But what I do have is an incredible little family, a good network of friends and most importantly a sense on purpose that ten years ago I couldn't even imagine having.

Do I think the next decade will be easy? Not a fucking chance, but I'll face it with the strength and courage I've gained over the past ten years.

Started it living with then DP. Bought a house, had DS, got made redundant, found a great job, left DP (and the house - got royally screwed there as "punishment for leaving"), met someone else, fell in love, split up & still trying to get over it, bought a new house, got a massive promotion...

Best decade - graduated, travelled, qualified as a lawyer, bought a flat, got married, sold flat and brought a house and recently had twins!

Got made redundant at the beginning of the decade after working for the same firm for nearly 20 years. Became a SAHM and have had some part time work through the last 10 years. Currently not working but doing lots of voluntary work. Lost my Gran at the beginning of the decade, lost my DF near the end.
So have been many changes.
DS is now a teenager and likely to fly the nest in the next decade, so even more changes to come!

suffolkcatlady you have made so many sacrifices for your children - I hope so much that your daughter finds her tribe and you and your DH will find sone time to relax and enjoy yourselves

Went for a week away and met a man who changed my life, even though nothing happened between us.

Got divorced.

Fell in love.

Went back to teaching and it kicked my arse.

Moved house.

Got married.

Opened and closed a business.

Learned to play an instrument.

Lost five pets and gained three.

Started running.

Found the job of my dreams.

Travelled. Particularly to Mexico, which was the most amazing place I’ve ever been. Spent time in Frida Kahlo’s house. Blew my mind.

Had a lot of therapy.

Got published (a bit).

Split up from my husband in 2009.
It’s been hard but worth it.
Had 5 grandchildren
Made redundant moved house twice
Kids have all left home all found good partners DH / DW
Gone so quickly.
Here’s to the next decade.

Not a good one for us unfortunately, lost so many relatives to cancer, our lovely friends losing their only child. Me being dx with a chronic neurological disease. So I will be very pleased to say goodbye to this decade, lots of memories but mainly sad ones. The events of this decade, have changed my whole outlook on life.

I'd say the first 5 were some of the best times of my life. The last 5 have been tough and awful! Basically when I met my abusive ex 5 years ago. But for 2020 I'm hopeful. Things are better now. Been a single parent for 3 years. Have My own place and DS is a joy. I'm planning on focusing on me and making my life fulfilling. I want to change career so hopefully can do that too.

My life has changed so much!

I was 16/17 in 2010, so I've become an adult. I've met my kindred spirit and had 2 children with him and have our third due in the new year. I've gone from literally a school student to an independent adult woman with a family.

I'm slowly learning new and better life skills and perspective that are making me feel content and at peace. I'm becoming more patient and accepting of things I can't change, and more motivated and sure of myself to change the things I can influence.

I'm happy to say I feel, despite plenty of ups and downs and surprises in all walks of life, genuinely hopeful for the future and grateful at the end of this year.

Changing decades actually feels like a genuine change rather than an arbitrary number ticking by this year!

All the best to everyone

Mine has had one overreaching crispness!

I became ill in dec 2011 and in early 2012 was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition called CIDP (Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy). Basically my peripheral nerves are dying, losing sensation in my arms, legs, face, loss of balance, extreme fatigue, pain in my feet and hands etc).

It's ruled our lives ever since and there's treatment to stop it getting worse but currently no known cure. I get a drip treatment in hospital every month which helps.

But we've had a good decade - mainly our dc teenage years.

Overall, I am very satisfied. I entered it at university where I did brilliantly academically but, behind the scenes, my mental health was in tatters. I've invested a lot in stabilising myself and got my masters degree, landed a great career and met and married my wonderful DH. We emigrated to the US and we've just bought our first house together, and we have 2 wonderful cats.

There were times where we were living paycheck to paycheck in a tiny, noisy studio apartment where I thought we would never get to where we are now. But we found our way and I'm incredibly grateful for all that we have.

I was single in 2009 after a hideous break up that had taken years to get over. I did not want children. Ever.

I am now celebrating almost 7 years with a wonderful man and I still haven't gotten over the surprise of having twins in 2013!

I was made redundant from a job I worked so hard for in 2009.

Within 6m I was in with a new company and am now doing my dream job & have been for almost a decade.

I've lost a member of my family I loved so much and still miss every day. I have also watched my other half lose his mother and it broke my heart seeing her slip away.

Overall the amazing has outweighed the miserable and I cannot wait for the next decade!

Bit hit and miss over here.

2010 - newly living with boyfriend, moved across the country to be with him after holiday romance, worked as a TA and generally had never been happier in my life.

2020 - lost 3 babies to miscarriage, completely rung out by 4 rounds of IVF. Lost both my nans in this decade and finally went non-contact with DF. On the plus side, DBoyfriend is now my fiancé, moved back to my home city to take up my dream job and plans are afoot to move abroad next year.

I want to say I'm glad to see the back of this decade but with no 'rainbow baby' on the horizon, I can't help feeling I'll be in for more of the same shit and disappointment

Graduated a couple of times, got married, had a child, bought a house. Pretty busy really. This next decade is just about relaxing and enjoying what we have. Want to get debt free and move to our next 15-20 year house. That's it in terms of plans.

Got divorced
Met dp
Had 2 new dc (2012 and 2013)
Married
Promoted
Bullied.
Career fell apart
Depression
Recovered
Stress related illness
Quit job due to above
Signed onto an agency, start in new year...
All 4 dc doing well at the moment

Age 22-32. I started the decade working as a teaching assistant, and loving the job. I'd previously suffered from severe depression and hadn't really expected to live to see 2010, let alone be able to keep a full-time job.

I did well at my job, specialised in intervention and SEN work, and enjoyed it until I realised I couldn't progress any further because of my level of education, and until the reforms to the system took all the joy and creativity out of it and I was just expected to drill small children in Maths and English (thanks, Michael Gove!). I held on as long as I could, but left in 2015.

Then I ended up at university. I'd done a work-related OU course some years before, and that got me onto a degree course despite the fact that I'd left school at 16. I paid for it entirely out of my savings - I'd been living with relatives while working, and I'd saved everything I could. I remember being terrified that I'd fail or drop out and that I'd have wasted all of that money.

I got a very high First, with academic prizes. Then I got two Masters' degrees, both with distinction. The second, from Cambridge, was fully-funded. I'm now a full-time PhD student, funded by a research council. I'm having a book chapter published sometime next year.

I still can't really believe that I have a Cambridge degree. I know I probably sound boastful, but my life is just so incredibly different than it was ten years ago. The way I see myself is so different. I started taking care of my health, which I didn't think was worth doing before. I stopped hating myself and started to believe that I have just as much right to be here and to pursue my ambitions as anyone else.

Here's to a happy and successful 2020 for everyone!

Met my husband

Moved countries temporarily to be with then-boyfriend / now-husband

Returned to my home country for a year

Husband proposed and I moved

Got married

Changed jobs

Bought a house

Had a baby

Husband became emotionally abusive

Left husband, moved out of big house into a flat much farther from the centre

Got my citizenship application accepted

Now looking at a probable life as a single mum, living in a foreign country for the foreseeable