Has a single thought ever changed your life?

[Entstoryench]

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!

Wonderful thread. I've had these epiphanies too - I don't know whether they are from God, spirit, our souls, or what, but they are very welcome & life changing. I believe that most people are GOOD at heart. The media focusses on those who aren't.
Do exactly as you please, as long as it doesn't hurt others! :-)

That I hadn't been a bad child.

I grew up being screamed and sworn at daily over misbehaviour, and as a depressed and self-loathing young adult I looked back and thought that it had been awful but I deserved it because of all the things I'd done wrong - like my mother said, I'd been an exceptionally horrible child and made her life really difficult. I felt guilty about it.

Then I started working in primary schools. Not only did I see that the 'bad' things I'd done were normal and developmentally appropriate, when I saw the children I was working with do these things (and far worse) I had absolutely no urge to scream or swear at any of them. There were other ways to deal with the unwanted behaviour, and I didn't once think of any child there as being 'bad'. They were so young! I'd been an anxious, perfectionistic child who behaved perfectly at school, so my mother probably thought that since I could be perfectly behaved, when I did annoyingly childish and disobedient things at home it was out of spite or something. I don't know.

It didn't fix the mental health problems, because they were complex by that point, but it made me see that maybe I didn't deserve to be miserable. It made me decide to get counselling. And my life is so much better now because of that.

I've just remembered one! I was totally miserable looking after baby twins, mourning my old life, my friends, my relationship with DH before having children, my career etc etc when suddenly I realised I would never get them back in the way they had been so would never be happy that same way again. The trick would be to find a new way to be happy that revolved around DC. From that day on I devised loads of ways for us to have fun together as a family and we always have. We've had some horrendous times (and some horrendous days out ) but overall my happiness hsot up when I made it about enjoying time as a family not needing to escape family to get shreds of my old life back.

Omg. That is so true

I relate to this.

It will probably be a thought of horror, @groovergirl!

I'm currently a trainee teacher.

I hate eating meat, the texture, the lumos of fat etc makes me feel nauseous. It took me until my mid 30s to realise that even though my mum would force me to eat meat as a child, I didn't actually have to force myself to eat it any more. I sounds really obvious but after an abusive childhood it was literally a revelation that I was allowed to be a vegetarian

Probably quite trivial in the grand scheme of things.

But in the weeks running up to a university ball my friend was going on and on and on and on relentlessly about her hair, make-up, what she was going to wear - debating shoes etc. She was enlisting the advice and opinion of everyone. I can't really quite get across just how self-absorbed she was about the whole thing. It was like she thought she was going to have a 'She's all that' moment, and how she turned up to this event was going to change her life forever. And all I could think was 'I really don't care, I'm preoccupied with what I'm wearing'.

And then it was a lightbulb moment of - everyone else feels the same way about what I'm wearing, no one cares they only care about what they're wearing!

These Hollywood entrances to Balls just don't happen. Girls just don't swoon at other girls and want to instantly become their friend because they looked nice at an event. They're too worried about their own hair, mascara and whether their bum looks big, to notice anyone else.

It's massively relieved the pressure and stress I used to experience prior to a black tie event and finding the perfect outfit.

The only thing that is stopping you, is you.

This is JOYOUS thank you for sharing!

Awwwww that's adorable 😍

"You actually don't know what you're talking about" re: my boss, who had lighted me constantly.

2 years and 2 jobs later I'm now his senior.

I can do this. And I went and got a degree at 40 as a single parent.

The worst he can do is say no and I look like a tit. And I asked out a fella I worked with after 15 years of being a single parent and not having anything more than very casual flings. We have been together now for 2.5 years and are planning to move in together.

That nothing I would would ever be good enough for my mother, so I might as well stop expecting her support and kindness.

It was liberating.

Few years ago I've seen a post online about someone getting a medal for some achievement and I realised I have never gotten a single medal for anything in my life. Decided I want a medal too 😆I was a smoker, very unfit and never done any exercise before. Started to run, it was very hard but I kept going. I am a marathon runner now and have quite a few medals to show.

"Oh my goodness. Me too. Until I was mid twenties I believed I was selfish and horrible as this is what I had been told by my parents. It was quite the epiphany when I realised I wasn't at all"

I had it the other way around. Always thought I was a good person then started to see some things from my past and present in a different light.

I don’t have to say yes to everything.

"She can walk out anytime, anytime she wants to walk out, that's fine"

First line of By the Sea by Suede which I had put on my record player. I rang my friend and she came and picked me up and I walked out of that awful relationship.

It was like I was in a daze until that moment and had forgotten or not realised I had a choice.

Also that NO is full sentence. You can say no without having to explain why.

I was on one of the tube trains on the day of the London bombings. I got off the train at the station before and decided to walk. I hadn't intended to do that, but as the door opened, I thought "just get off and walk". I still don't know why, but i'm forever glad I did.

@Entstoryench can I ask what lovely habits you started that helped on your weight loss journey?

(Sorry if this details but it sounds really interesting)

Mine was recently, I'd stopped enjoying my role and knew I wasn't being valued, and that my time was worth more money. I was sick of earning less than DH and feeling dependant. I said to him, 'I'm changing jobs and I'm gonna earn the same as you' and then I did. I feel very proud of myself.

Amazing post from @GAW19 go you!

A sudden realisation that my Mum will have no memory of an angry thing she's said about thirty minutes after saying it. It was as a result of her complaining about my Dad 'sulking' about something. I suddenly realised that things that have been yelled at me as a child, teen and adult probably weren't true and there was no point ever asking her about them. Liberating stuff really. Also being hurt because someone has yelled mean things at you doesn't make you sulky either!

People get worse as they get older, including yourself.

You just need to manage them and yourself.

Partners, parents, friends - if you don't like things about them now, eg tardiness, untidiness etc, they're likely not going to change, and your own tolerance will go down too.

Also, my opinion or advice is my privilege to give. So many people stealing my ideas at work and taking credit, calling me asking to help with a difficult situation then expecting me to do the leg work for them.

I just stopped talking and kept my thoughts to myself. Funny how certain people have disappeared, and how I'm flourishing. If someone says now 'I've got this issue', I'm like maybe you need to speak to so and so, or 'I guess you need to decide what you want to do' instead of laying it all out for them, giving options, saying I'll help them or I know someone.' I only do it for those who would do the same for me in the same situation. I appreciate that people can't return the favour always, and need me but I know the people in my life who would take the time out for me to help me if they could. Those are the ones I cherish.

This is good I'm going to do this because I keep getting stressed out by so much, lots out of my control and it's all small things that don't matter really.