To ask what changed your life dramatically for the better?

[youneeQuorn]

Did you find something that just changed life for you?

Be it yoga, meditation, religion, medication, therapy, a new hobby - that sort of thing

Having children. Was the making of me.
Getting a dog.
Running.

Moving to Australia.

Schmuck shedding

Bravery

Money

A high road approach

Giving up alcohol.
Changed everything

Meeting my husband and having children has helped me. I never felt I belonged anywhere before as my parents moved abroad when I was young and sent me to boarding school. I love my home.

Retiring from a job I hated and wasn't great at and turning my hobby (photography) into a bit of an earner to supplement my income. I now do something I love and am good at, as and when I feel like it and fill the rest of my time with stress free domestic stuff.

Having children was a wonderful change (although I worked full time always so it did not modify my life in the sense of stopping work).

Probably my first law job (I applied to over 100 firms in London) as that led me down the path to current earnings/ assets and lifestyle or before that I suppose loads of hard work to get the best exam results in the school, university prizes (I did not even drink at university - just got on with my degree) etc.

Divorce after 10 years was absolutely wonderful too.

Finally not had a periods since January (am 55) so may be the chance of life - no symptoms ( very surprisingly) but I don't have pre menstrual stuff any more and you save money on tampax!

I should not forget the gorgeous grandchild but although it is always in my thoughts it does not affect my life day to day.

Actually this Autumn when the 3 boys leave home, 2 for university will be the first time in my entire life I've lived alone and I am so looking forward to it. That might well be one of the biggest changes ever coming up.

getting braces aged 35 !
i smile so much more and do not shy away from cameras , it has given me a confidence boost x 100 to get my very wonky teeth fixed

Hilt exercise- has done wonders for my weight
Getting rid of toxic friends
Mumsnet
Leaving a very stressful job
Not being a people pleaser

The power of Classical Music.

Not just vaguely enjoying it and letting it was over me as I did for the first 30 years of my life.
Listening with care, following the themes, knowing how each piece fits into the 500 year-old tapestry of musical development. Recognising a good performance of a bad piece, and the opposite!

It has enriched my life.

Starting the couch to 5k running app

I've now been running a year, done a 10km and half marathon and run 4 times a week FOR FUN which is a crazy concept.

I used to dread exercise but now I just look forward to my hours peace plodding around the area by my house with music.

Hysterectomy at 43 after 30 years of horrendously heavy periods.
Learning to drive in mid forties
Ssri anti depressants after years of low level depression

For me, it was probably taking a bit of a leap job wise & getting a 50% pay rise. All subsequent jobs have been based off that salary meaning that I could be financially independent of DH and still offer our DC a decent quality of life if I wanted to. The freedom that potentially offers is life changing. DH is a good husband and father and I am very happy with him but to know I don't have to be with him but continue to choose to be with him is very liberating.

A house fire. It was 6years ago. Its made me stronger and it puts life into perspective xx

Realising I was a horrible, arrogant cunt in my early 20's, moderating my behaviour and making sure I stay confident but not so far up my own arse I disappear.

Moving to the countryside. Living the life here that works for me and not the life other people wanted me to.

House swap! We have travelled so much as a family, had adventures and shown our children much more of the world than we could ever have done without it.

Getting together with DP. We will have been together for 10 yrs this year and she is my rock. I'd be lost without her.

Also:

• Citalopram. Allows me to feel and behave like a normal person, without crippling anxiety and associated misery and irritability. Accepting that I will need it forever because my brain chemicals don't seem to work otherwise was also important.

• Surgery and chemotherapy. Utterly horrendous, but saved my life. My prognosis was 2 years, and that was 3 years ago. So far, still well.

• Realising that I'm gay and getting comfortable with the idea, which meant I was ready when DP came along.

• Leaving academia to do a more conventional office job. Lots of important decisions were bound up with this: realising that my worth as a person doesn't come from my job; acknowledging that I want to be a parent more than I want to do research; accepting the amount of downtime I need to maintain my mental health.

• Going NC with a manipulative 'friend' who I realised was actually controlling and bullying me.

I have a very happy life but I'm only 31 so I'm sure there will be other moments of change and revelation to come

Finally moving out of houseshares and into my own (rented) flat, even though my first one was a total shitheap, it was only ever going to be a stepping stone

Getting hobbies, first a sport then Girl Guiding. Guiding in particular has been great for me, I've done things I never thought I could (canoeing in the dark, one of those leap of faith things, camping, etc).

Coming out (not entirely but mostly). I had gone from confident I was gay in my late teens to somehow snogging and groping random guys at uni to having a boyfriend in my early twenties, then increasingly convinced I was gay again. I finally came out when I met my ex-girlfriend as she was something more concrete than just feelings. I feel like a lot of confusion (my own) got cleared up,and no longer feel guilty about keeping secrets from my friends.

Oh and mirtazapine! After spending last year on various meds and doses trying to find the right one (been on various ADs for a decade), I finally feel like myself again. I sleep well at night and I can handle shit without self harming. I don't cry at work anymore!

Yoga, running and my dogs.

Leaving London for Edinburgh. I walk to work, am surrounded by beauty every day, and people aren't too stressed out to be nice to one another

Travelling the world by myself when I was 25.
Moving to the Caribbean by myself when I was 28.
Taking up early morning running.
Alternate day fasting.

Mine was leaving my ex. I am living now, with him I simply existed.

Having my son.