To ask what was the most prolific thing you have done to change your life for the better?

[Dotdotlineline]

I'm in a bit of a funk today so want to know what other people do when faced with an idea of changing something.

Has anyone ever made a drastic or even a small change for the better? Whether that be spiritually / money wise or with themselves?

I keep thinking about the notion that 'life is what you make of it' and questioning where I am going wrong.

I wised up and got off the so called 'career ladder'. Realising and accepting how pointless sitting in front of a screen and attending boring meetings for most of the day was.
I have many practical skills and I now work from home on projects that I love. Less income but we are actually better off as I have time to save money on shopping, fuel, no childcare etc.
Society is changing, the career individual is not as reverred as they once were and those with a richer and more diverse working life with a portfolio of projects are now more respected.

1
Very shy when I was young. I am now the opposite

2
Learnt to drive

3
Independent, don't rely on anyone else
Happy to be on my own
Happy to spend time with other people

Got a dog

Went back to working full time after a decade of part time. I love it. I'm so much more organised both in and out of work and I don't waste time snoozing on my days off.

Thankyou for this post! So inspirational x

Place marking for later I need to read this!

Accepted that my biological father and his family will always be flaky and only interested in how I can help them out and make their lives easier. Took the decision to go no contact with them.

I'm more relaxed, my IBS has cleared up and I finally feel like I'm in control of my life.

Oh, something came back to me that might be helpful. Once I sat next to Sir Steve Redgrave at a lunch - obviously I was awestruck he’d won 5 Olympic golds despite having diabetes. I asked him if he had any secrets of success ordinary people could emulate. He said the way he did it was to break a big aim into lots of small ones - eg shave a tenth of a second off a rowing time each week. Probably easier said than done at his level. Then stick at it. I’ve translated that into my life a fair few times - try to do one little thing a day or even a week to make a positive change, but do it consistently. Another thing I believe in is the power of habit. I had the bad side of that as a chain smoking alcoholic but I have tried to harness the good side of habits by adopting positive habits, eg get up early, go for run, it was painful at first but now I barely think about it but am hugely healthier and more able to cope with life as a result. A lot of things in our lives we do unthinkingly, out of sheer habit, so I just thought it was worth trying to make those positive.

I totally agree with that, @DonaPatrizia - it's often the habitual stuff you do which makes the real difference, not big impressive goals. I've (finally) realised that with weight loss and fitness. I've picked some healthy, manageable food and exercise habits and I'm just going to keep on doing them. No faddy new diets, no weighing, no goals, just daily habits.

This is an inspiring thread, thank you everyone.

Had bariatric surgery. The weightloss changed my life in more ways than I could ever list.

Best money I ever spent on myself.

Do you mean prolific or profound, op Hummm? grin sorry

You're not sorry though, are you? 1) Coming onto a thread just to criticise someone's use of language is twatty 2) If you'd read the thread you'd know that (unsurprisingly ) someone already did the twatty thing and made the OP feel pretty bad. So well done

Stopped drinking alcohol. Life changer, for the better

Scrivett what do you do now?

I'm continuing to enjoy this thread. For me, OP has coined an excellent new meaning for the word prolific that is a near compound of 'profound' and 'terrific'. I'm using all the inspiring posts to ideas for how to make my life more of both

I love this thread. It's so inspiring.

Anyway, mine are the same as a lot of people:

• Emigrating. I found getting out of the UK, away from my toxic mother and my home town to be a revelation. I could never have the life and career in the UK that I have here.

• Exercise. Hated it for YEARS. Went to the gym but logged every second. Then DH and I got a Peloton during lockdown and I am hooked. I also used the cash saved when we didn't have child care because of Covid to hire a trainer who specializes in lean gains and post-partum women. I feel amazing, and look better than I did pre-baby.

• Therapy and getting diagnosed and treated for ADHD. Life changing. I had really bad prenatal depression, so got sent to see the special pregnancy psychiatrist and she was AMAZING. That led to me feeling more comfortable with seeking help with my mental health and ADHD. I remember the first time I took Concerta and marveling that my mind was quiet for the first time in my life.

I stopped smoking in 2000 and I give thanks every day that I managed to kick the habit. It used to basically consume my brain power, wondering if I had enough fags, where I could smoke them, was I smoking too much, was it going to kill me, feeling like a dirty addict, it was awful, and all for the illusion that it was relaxing me. As soon as I gave up it was like I was reborn, and felt free and great about myself.

Open heart surgery to repair a hole in the heart, not only did it save my life but drastically improved the quality of it as well, for the first time I'm able to exercise properly, before surgery going up 2 flights of stairs left me breathless, now I'm doing a shitload of walking and weight training every day. I still eat and drink like Homer Simpson but I feel better than I have in 10 years, one of the cardiologists asked me during a post surgery check up how I was feeling and I replied "like I've been given a superpower"

Yoga every day.
Learned no is a complete sentence.
Took a massive step back from toxic friends as I realised I was a total people pleaser.

@Tangledtresses

Stopped saying yeah okay. If I don't want to do it I don't !

Examples:
I'm a single mum good easy job no real money worries

Married couples constantly asking me to pick up their kids, drop off have for tea etc

I just say no

And it's awesome 👏🏼

Good on you!!!!

@DukeOfEarlGrey

I'm continuing to enjoy this thread. For me, OP has coined an excellent new meaning for the word prolific that is a near compound of 'profound' and 'terrific'. I'm using all the inspiring posts to ideas for how to make my life more of both

I love this

This is an amazing thread and I'm in awe of the many determined, practical and inspiring women on here. You are fantastic!

@Simpleisntit Thank you! I’ve screenshotted your lovely response and next time I’m on the floor I’ll look at it, it’ll help pick me up. So many inspiring stories and very courageous women on here.

@wantanotherdog

This is an amazing thread and I'm in awe of the many determined, practical and inspiring women on here. You are fantastic!

And Men.....

I started investing in some tools. It's amazing how many little jobs around the house you can get done without relying on paying/waiting for someone else to do it when you have the little tools and YouTube!