Has a single thought ever changed your life?

ReeseWitherfork · 15/10/2022 18:36

“Wait…. Why the hell aren’t we trying for a baby?!”

ParkheadParadise · 15/10/2022 18:42

You can't get pregnant the first time you have sex 🙈

At 15 this thought completely change my life.

RedLem0nade · 15/10/2022 18:53

“I don’t have to watch a scary movie ever again if don’t want to.”
A relatively minor change at the age of 25 or so but still- it’s made my life (and sleep) much pleasanter for the 15 years since😊

OrangePumpkinLobelia · 15/10/2022 18:57

'Not my circus, not my monkeys'.

Have MN to thank for that. It allowed me to break free from a cycle of family toxicity where I was often allowing myself to be a flying money out of a sense of obligation and guilt and to walk away and say to other family members ; Not getting involved. Sort your own shit out'.

liberating in more ways that i can ever explain. It has literally changed my life; my sense of self and my happiness.

KimWexlersPonyTail · 15/10/2022 19:02

Was in dire need of a pay rise that was not going to happen then a sudden thought occurred that I could give up 30 fags a day and give myself a massive pay rise instantly. So I stopped, after 40 years, I saw the savings on day one.

PollyEsther · 15/10/2022 19:07

Yep! Saw a friend post their graduation photos and felt not a small bit of envy. Then the thought "well, you can sit here feeling jealous of somebody again in three years time when you see their graduation, or you can enrol and have your own" smacked me like a ton of bricks.

I graduate with first class honours next week, and I'm now training for a career that I didn't think life had in store for me. No regrets.

Loungingstevens · 15/10/2022 19:16

@PollyEsther YES POLLY! 💪Congratulations!

OneRingToRuleThemAll · 15/10/2022 19:20

"I'm worth more than this". Every time the phrase pops in my head, I change something for the better.

Left relationships, changed jobs, taken a new direction...

PermanentTemporary · 15/10/2022 19:24

More of an image. A house somewhere in the country, in the dark, with one window lit. XH and I on our own in that house, at the end of our lives. No kids (he didn't want any) no friends (he didn't see the point) no family (he claimed to hate his own and definitely disliked mine).

That wasn't a future I wanted. I left him soon after.

Purplecatshopaholic · 15/10/2022 19:28

It is none of your business what other people think of you. Fab. In one fell swoop I stopped giving a shit and it’s great!

GAW19 · 15/10/2022 19:38

I was with a guy who physically abused me for 8 months.
One day he punched me in The head whilst I was driving, then that night he punched me in the face.
I literally had a lightbulb moment. I told myself that I knew I was so much damn stronger than this!
I then took the dog 'out for a wee' and rang the police. I never had to see him ever again

5 years later I am now engaged with 2 beautiful daughters

J0y · 15/10/2022 19:43

I realised I had prioritised appearing happy over being happy.
The two were genuinely quite enmeshed but this realisation was still a big deal for me. I left controlling x.

Dnadoon · 15/10/2022 19:43

@GAW19 I'm so happy that you had that light bulb moment 💐

Wisenotboring · 15/10/2022 19:44

I was left as a single parent and was so reactive to the rejection amd limitations I felt. I gradually realised that I could dictate the narrative of my life going forward and could open my mind to anything. That attitude has helped me change my life to be open to so many opportunities I thought I didn't have. I have a wondeful life with a wonderful husband and family and a great job. I really can't believe how lovely things are. Of course things aren't perfect but I have an open mind and heart to expect a positive future where change is possible if I want it. I know I'm very, very lucky.

Phoenixrising2020 · 15/10/2022 19:47

I was ill and thought about how he had left his mother to basically rot and now he was doing the same to me. I started taking charge of my life and my future and things are much better.

lannistunut · 15/10/2022 19:57

I decided to think 'if I didn't know this was happening would it actually matter' and I just stop thinking about small irritations. It helps me divide things into real problems and nonsense.

Humobean · 15/10/2022 20:00

PollyEsther · 15/10/2022 19:07

Yep! Saw a friend post their graduation photos and felt not a small bit of envy. Then the thought "well, you can sit here feeling jealous of somebody again in three years time when you see their graduation, or you can enrol and have your own" smacked me like a ton of bricks.

I graduate with first class honours next week, and I'm now training for a career that I didn't think life had in store for me. No regrets.

Go Polly 👍🌟👩‍🎓

inthemiddlepiggyinthemiddle · 15/10/2022 20:02

Entstoryench · 15/10/2022 18:34

I've been reflecting on how important thoughts are, and how one thought can just change your life dramatically.

One example: when I was in my teens and early twenties, I was overweight. I was miserable and had no confidence. I always assumed that I always would be overweight and any attempts to loe weight were so half hearted.

Then one day I had this crystal clear thought: 'losing weight is completely in my control'. It sounds obvious, but I realised that if I changed my diet, I literally had the power to lose weight. Like, I actually had real control over this.

About a year later, I was 4 stone down and had to buy a whole new wardrobe of clothes. People didn't recognise me in the street and I replaced all of my old habits with lovely new healthy ones. 20 years later and I've pretty much kept it off and it was all down to that one thought that hit me like a tonnes of bricks one day.

Please share how a single thought changed your life!

This is going to be me. From today. Thank you.

Mine was 'I'm not happy. I would be happier single' so I asked for a divorce. This set in motion a chain I could never have envisioned but now, 35 years later, I have two lovely adult kids and a great marriage.

SkirridHill · 15/10/2022 20:15

I used to try really, really hard to make one particular person like me (a woman, for context; she made her dislike of me entirely evident from the first moment I met her). I remember sitting there one day and realising it actually wasn't about me - I hadn't done anything to warrant her dislike. It made me realise I can't control other people's responses to me, and I wasn't going to try anymore.

It was honestly a lightbulb moment.

MidnightConstellation · 15/10/2022 20:18

PollyEsther · 15/10/2022 19:07

Yep! Saw a friend post their graduation photos and felt not a small bit of envy. Then the thought "well, you can sit here feeling jealous of somebody again in three years time when you see their graduation, or you can enrol and have your own" smacked me like a ton of bricks.

I graduate with first class honours next week, and I'm now training for a career that I didn't think life had in store for me. No regrets.

Wow! Good for you!

halfsiesonapotnoodle · 15/10/2022 20:22

Why choose misery when you can choose happiness? Left my marriage.

WizardOfUK · 15/10/2022 20:30

'You'll be getting a divorce at 40 if you don't do anything about it now!' / I was 27 at the time and left him shortly after that. I'm now 50, happily married with teenage children.

slo · 15/10/2022 20:46

I realised quite clearly, 'I would never willingly do to anyone what you are doing to me'

and that gave me the strength to leave.

daffodilandtulip · 15/10/2022 20:49

I was so miserable in my job, crying every day, shouted at every day, dreading getting up in a morning.

It wasn't even just a thought, I sat there in the office (and got a few wide eyed stares) and I said "I'm not doing this shit for another twenty years." And never went back.

DramaAlpaca · 15/10/2022 20:57

When my male friend said he was thinking about going to Australia and I instinctively said if he did, I'd go with him. Well, we never made it to Australia but we did get married two years later.