What did your life look like 10 years ago?

[TripleHFa]

As in 2009

Is it different to what it is today

I was in school doing my GCSEs ,today I am in a job.

Oh I was a lot thinner then! One benefit of stress!!

Pregnant with DD. We’re still in the same home but I’ve moved jobs twice since then.

I'd been married for 8 years, DS was 9 and I had been working in the civil service for a year. DH was a postman, a job he loved. We were just starting to be comfortable financially, not well off but enough money to cover our bills with a little left over.

Now, DS is working full time, I'm still in the civil service but a senior manager now and I'm a widow. Financially have never been better off but would give it all up to have DH back.

I'd moved back in with my parents aged 23 after leaving an abusive relationship. I was working as a paralegal before starting my training contract, had made some new friends and out A LOT. Now I'm married, qualified, no longer friends with the friends from that time but have lovely friends and we've bought a house I love.

I was finishing my second year of uni, in a relationship with a complete arsehole.

Wish I could go back and do it all again, the right way.

Now however, I have a wonderful son, amazing partner, lovely house and lovely life.

There has been much suffering in between those 10 years but I'd like to think that I've learnt some bloody valuable lessons and despite having those negative experiences, I am grateful for them.

SAHM to many small children. No idea how or if I would ever work again.

Now I work 6 days a week in 2 professional jobs.
Boy having older kids is a lot easier.

DP and I had just moved in to our second place (having spent 2 years in a studio flat!!) with our kitten.

We had lots of disposable income, had lots of fun (nights out, weekends away) we had lots of sleep and lots of sex.

I was skinny - size 8, 8st, I was carefree.

God it was fucking amazing.

• we still have to cat (plus 3 kids!). I am no longer skinny or carefree and we no longer have much disposable income. It's not too shabby.

Great thread! I was 35, one year on from a really unhealthy relationship. I was single and just dipping my toe in the water of internet dating. Also just bought a house which needed lots of work. Great family and friends, no kids. In a very well paid job but vile employer/company culture.

I've been with DH (my second internet date ) for just over 9 years now. Live in a beautiful old house in an area I never thought I'd move to just about to adopt 2 beautiful kids.Changed jobs and couldn't be happier.

Would love to have been able to tell 10 years ago me all of the above

I was terminally single, living by myself in a rented flat, working as a teacher.
I’m now married with 2 children, a homeowner and still a teacher!

2009 - was in my first ever relationship (and thinner), adjusting to being back in the UK and living with parents again after being abroad for a year (independence went straight out of the window), working in crappy job.

2019 - divorced (married the first ever bf) and fatter, but living abroad again (different country), gained a cat and have an amazing job.

The years in between were fun and hard, exDH turned out to be an abusive wanker but I did learn a few things about myself.

I was 15.
So my life consisted of going to school - which by that point meant bunking off important lessons to be in the dance studio or music department No idea why my maths and science gcse results were abysmal
Spending my weekends just dossing about with my friends, going to some dodgy house parties

I was early 20s, traveling the world and single! I came home and got back together with my boyfriend from uni later that same year. Married to him with 2 children now. I was happy loving life then and I'm still very happy now settled with a family. Life is totally different though!

I had an 8 week old DD, first time mum,
Had been living in my new Place with My Partner for 2 weeks.

Now, we have been together 12 years, married for 4, and have another DS who's 3 on Saturday.

In process of saving up to buy our house

I was raging through the menopause like a lunatic feeling half crazed and losing my shit. But I was at least still married and living a half decent life.

I was in the middle of a reorganisation at work. I really enjoyed my job, and was sad that things were changing.

Little did I know that I’d end up
changing department, retraining and following a totally different career path. But it was just about to happen. And it was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Then - just finishing maternity leave with DS and returning to shitty unsupportive job which was not giving me the training I was there for, tiny ground floor flat with damp, 1hr commute by public transport to work, fulltime nursery for 10mth old, couldn't sleep or study for exams because we were all crammed into the one bedroom that didn't have mould, DP working best he could in a new country and city and trying to freelance in the evenings, me still paying off the student loans and overdraft, thinking about taking on even more debt for a car or better flat. Felt a bit hopeless really and feel I wasn't the best parent or partner because of it all.

Now - training finished and have moved abroad, good permanent and supportive job with a great atmosphere, DP now DH at university again to improve his prospects which we can afford without debt, DS has been joined by DD and both becoming more independent, I have good work life balance and spend much more time with them both. No debts, now renting again but able to chose in a good rental market, commute has been cut down to walk or cycle ride, speak a new language. Still exams and studying, and need to work on physical fitness but its a lot easier to do that now.

I think I will save this list so I can look at it in another 10 years

Living in Australia with my dp and dd. I was 31. Seems like a lifetime ago!
Now, living back in the UK with my dp (who is now my dh) my dd and our 6 year old ds. I sometimes miss our old life in oz, but happy with the way things turned out.

Same job but I had just spent a really interesting few months abroad with DH who had been made redundant the year before.
No DCs, and I broke my shoulder and started a Brownie pack (now folded).
We started adoption prep in the September.

On a career I loved
Lots of sex with Dh
Lots of weekends away and in bed with Dh

😭😭😭😭

I was 22, almost 23, going back to work to a job I hated after having DS1 who was 1 at the time. Living in an apartment I didn’t like, knowing I was going to be made redundant but didn’t know when. DP and I had only been together for a year by the time DS1 was born.
Still with the same DP now, in a job I love, in a house I love, with DS2 who is 17 months old and DS1 is almost finished at primary school.
I didn’t drive then, still don’t now so that’s next on the to do list.
It’s nice to write this down actually, I feel very proud of how far we’ve come.

Hard. Looking after my 81 Yr old mum by myself with no extended family support. Also raising the dcs with only dh for support.
Not easy, not easy at all. Friends all had parents fit and sprightly.

Mums not here now and my kids have grown. Life is easier now, but I'd give my right hand for ten minutes with mum x

I was happily married, owned a lovely home, about to take maternity leave from a great job with good prospects.

Now I'm divorced, the house was repossessed, I had to declare bankruptcy which ends next year all as a result of my exh gambling addiction. I'm on benefits, juggling three part time jobs and volunteer roles along with navigating the trials of life of a 10 year old boy....

Well dd2 was turning 2 (it's her birthday today) dd1 had just turned 3 and I was just about to get pregnant with ds. I was a month off turning 40, several stone and dress sizes smaller and felt about 20 years younger than I do now. I'm not sure I can connect who I am now with who I was then, but it has been a long shitty day.

I was single, had been on 2 dates with a guy I quite liked, was a teacher and pretty much footloose and fancy free living in the middle of a city.

Now - I've been married to the guy I "quite liked" for 9 years, with a 4 year old DD living in the country and self employed.

Life is definitely better now.

It's massively changed.
In 2009, we still lived 2000km away , back in our home town. Both kids lived with us. DH was working in security, and I was recovering from a breakdown, having dropped out of uni.
We were lucky to have loads of family and friends, but the employment scene was dire.
DH decided to enlist in the end of 2010, and now 10 years later....
We live on the Atlantic coast, I am an artist, DH is a navy officer, DD lives back in the hometown , DS is just finishing his post secondary school, and we are getting ready to move all the way that the other side of Canada to BC by Christmas!
I can't imagine what it will be like in another ten years!