Please could I hear your stories of big life changes?

[SingingOcean]

I really want to make some changes, namely health, job/purpose and house-moving. I have read all of the books, know all of the theories and am full of good intentions. Then I fail at the first hurdle.

Please could I ask for your advice and support, but most of all your inspirational stories?

Anyone?

I moved out of London to the coast so my DS could have a similar childhood to me. It involved house and job change, just got in the window of applyong to school. Many hurdles so make a step by step of goals but be prepared to adapt if life throws you curveballs.

Don't wait until Monday. Make the changes in the day that works for you. Mondays never comes.

Pick one thing to change, not everything simultaneously.

Prep even if you're not ready to change things ie get your CV and Linked In updated now even if no jobs are currently advertised, get your home looking ready for sale even if you can't put it on the market, start decluttering ready to move.

Moved with four kids and my first Husband to three different European countries while he built his career and cut years of graft out by being prepared to go where the best contract was.
I then became a single parent when my 4 kids were small- broke up for all the right reasons
Once the youngest two at school aI started a full time uni degree using the loans and grants and choosing my modules based on the lecture timetable around school times.
Up at 4am to study and as soon as they were in bed, EOW with their dad and any spare moment. This combined with buying at car boot sales and upselling on eBay, and doing and a few lunch time shifts doing agency care in the community.
Went onto then do a masters when they brought the funding in.
By then all the kids at secondary so went full time in the third sector charity, then teaching FE before moving over to Social Care and did fast track training as a social worker.

Bought a house by myself and lost then gained and then lost 5 stone again

lots of change lol

I think you’re overthinking it. You don’t need to read a book about it. You just need to do it. It’s about leaping and trusting that it will all work out in some way for the better.

I quit my job and moved to India on a whim in my 20s. It was wonderful. The best year of my life and I met Dh (from the UK and also working there) 2 months in.

I also picked up my whole life in my home country and moved to the UK a few years later (to get married). I literally sold everything I owned and packed the rest in a few suitcases and left forever. I went from living in a huge city (think Paris, NYC, etc) to living in a cottage in a village of about 200 people. It was an adjustment in lifestyle, but it grew on me and now I love the countryside and wouldn’t live anywhere else.

Last year, I got cancer (a big life change that I didn’t exactly have much control over). I went off on sick leave and eventually quit my 20 year career, which had been draining the life out of me. I can’t tell you the relief when I finally did it. I didn’t realise how miserable I was in my job until it went poof and was gone. I’m getting better, finishing treatment soon and starting a course to re-train in the spring. It’s a bit of a leap into the unknown but at least it’s an unknown of my own choosing.

Thank you everyone, these are just the ticket.

What do you fancy doing duck? X

I moved to another country for uni. Then moved to England after graduating. Worked, moved back to where I grew up for five years, got a masters, moved back to England and married had two kids. My DH passed away suddenly a month after my youngest had started reception. Had to sell the family home bought another, 18 months later moved to the IOW for a fresh start, ten years later moved back to London, now thinking of going to Spain for a year after my DD graduates from uni (we’d all go). I’ll be 65 then.
I’d say each major move was about two years from idea to actually doing it as you may need to apply for uni/job, sell property, get visas and so on. Right now I’m applying for Irish nationality by descent, which takes a while, then Irish passports so my kids can work in Spain and we don’t need visas. Investigating the money needed, how to get there taking our pets, do we rent out or Airbnb our house (worried about getting possession back), how do we deal with pre exiting health conditions with private health insurance and getting the medication etc etc. Some people do make major changes by just winging it, but in our circumstances (my adult children, health issues), this would be irresponsible. Also I do think ‘fail to plan is planning to fail’. Sure things may ‘work out in the end’ but why leave things to chance and perhaps cause a lot of stress along the way? Change in itself is stressful, without adding to it unnecessarily.
What and why do you want to change? Do you want to get fit/lose weight? That is simple enough: don’t wait for motivation just do it. Start tomorrow with a walk as soon as you get up and a healthy (or no) breakfast. Vow to do this every day for a month and with some resulting positive changes you can extend it another month.
Change job/career? This requires research and planning. If it’s a job change then ok look around, send out feelers, reach out on Linked In. A career change that’s rather more involved. Do you need training? Can you afford that/have the time? Where can you get the training and are you sure there are jobs available once qualified?
House move requires a bit of prep: taking care of a few jobs, decluttering and so on, but this is not to onerous.
You could, and it sounds like you may be stuck at this stage, spend months if not years looking at Rightmove listings, dreaming of a different career, imagine yourself doing the fun run every Sunday, without doing anything to actually make these things happen in real life.
One step at a time. This week : go for a walk every day before work; make a list of things to fix in your house; update your CV. Next week: download an app to help track calories (assuming you want to lose weight, if not then add some other physical activity like sign up for Pilates class); call a tradesman to tackle some of the jobs in your house. Call up a contact in your career field about possible opportunities. Don’t think, just do. Each week you’ll get closer to your goals which creates motivation.

@mindutopia and anyone else who sold up and started again - how did you manage it financially? I love the idea of fresh furniture, bed linen, furnishings, crockery etc. but how could I justify the cost even if I could afford it??