To ask what’s the best decision you’ve ever made?

[Thispinks]

Some positive thoughts! It’s easy for us to think about what we’ve done wrong or could have done differently. But we’ve made some great decisions in our lives too! What are they? x

I'm a teacher and hadn't been at my new school long but my mum, a couple of hours drive away, had terminal cancer. I was on an internal course on the Thursday where part of it was about working out what was important to you - was meant to be about developing your career. I would have otherwise gone to work on the Friday full of daughter guilt, but instead I rang work the next morning to say I wouldn't be in as my mum wasn't doing well. She died on the Saturday. So I got a whole extra day of being there, thanks to that course. Another great decision was having a rush wedding so my mum could be there.

Leaving the fried chicken shop to go talk to the man at the bus stop I'd snogged earlier in a club. He's now my DH.

Being stubborn and not giving up on fertility treatment after many years of ivf, surgeries and miscarriages. My 7 month old is next to me trying to eat her sock.

Buying my first flat. Never thought I'd be able to achieve it, on my own, on an average salary. I've sworn that I'll never live with anyone again and always keep my financial independence. Living alone in my own home is utterly blissful. Best decision ever.

A decision made together with DH to have IVF resulting in our miracle baby 💜

To get divorced at 29.
To move house and clear mortgage to buy outright
To retire four and a half years ago.

Choice of husband. Got very lucky there.

I'd like to know this too!

To get on the housing ladder in 2000 when mum tried to put me off and rent for a year. I would've missed the boat.

To have my first child despite being quite young and later to end an abusive relationship. I turned my whole life round and got loads of qualifications in 6 years, being very persistent pays off and now I can enjoy all my adult children, pets, the fruits of the work I was able to do and my outdoor havens. None of those things would have happened without having my first child.

Can I be cheeky and ask how old you were when you retrained? I have a good friend, considering doing exactly this from teaching.

to not put my kids in the school system and follow the radical unschooling method of home education as its also a parenting style

its the best life ever and there are millions of us online and in person

unless your in this "world" you would never know there are people like you out there

boys are 19 and 13 now

I began the RHS Level 2 at 41, though I'd been a keen gardener for many years beforehand. Went professional at 48 and credit my job with making the menopause a whole lot less of a problem. With money, gardening isn't something you take up to become rich and the going rates vary depending on where you are and what experience/qualifications you've got. It's certainly possible to earn a comfortable amount as long as you don't want a lot of holidays abroad and such like. The trade off for me is that I'm actually doing what I want to do, I'm my own boss and if a client becomes an issue then I can move on. Spending my days outside in gardens, in lovely places and then being paid for it is a Dream World. Mind you, do need decent waterproofs.

To choose not to apply for any of the available jobs during a redundancy round. I took redundancy and eeked out the payout for a whole year. Then I got another job for less hours and better benefits than the one I left.
The year off was transformative. I felt institutionalised by my workplace so it enabled me to completely come back to myself, turn my health around and have fun. I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I was ever so fortunate to be in that situation again. I'd worked with no real breaks except the usual week or 2 of holiday for 40 years at that point.

To follow my heart and leave the abusive father of my children. Best decision I ever made and me and my children will forever be much happier for it. He was happy to flash the cash for attention so long as he could brag, but was verbally, financially and sexually abusive for years behind closed doors. One I’ll never regret.

To begin a casual volunteering role 7 years ago that turned into a salaried role 2 years ago and has grown steadily since then. It's completely changed my life.

I've met a few home-schoolers and the kids seem very down to earth and confident. One of the girls, currently very early teens, has more skills than many adults.

Marrying my dh. Everything good has happened since this, and I am thankful for meeting him every day.

Moving away from London to get better housing and family support

Joining a group in 1971 where I met my husband the first day I went to the club.

Messaging a scruffy-looking woman with a gorgeous smile on Plenty of Fish after being nagged by a friend to give online dating another try. Eight years later, we are married with a daughter! (And she is still scruffy with a gorgeous smile!)

Same. Fear of upsetting children and perceptions of others delayed things.

In addition, adopting my son and then, two years, later his (then) baby brother.

Taking a gamble, as another poster said, on an amazing man and believing that there could be a real chance of true happiness.

Fighting against the odds of minimal qualifications into a very well paid male dominated IT career which has enabled a couple of the points above.

Great thread!

Walked into a CrossFit gym. not an exaggeration to say it transformed every area of my life.

My manager advised me to join the pension scheme at 19 - I was reluctant but did so. (No history of this in my very w/class family). Then, I kept working p/t and paying in when I had DC. Over the years, my husband was quietly blowing our money - I divorced him when youngest finished GCSEs. I bought him out then, I was offered early retirement at 54 and took my great pension. I still have another p/t job where I wfh. Now I'm mortgage free and financially independent.

Marrying the right man and a career in emergency and intensive care medicine.

Attending a graduate fair when I was 21.

It was the first stepping stone in my career, and more importantly that first job is where I met now DH.

Doing an amazing self development course in 1994 that completely changed my life! Not just what I learnt, which was life changing, but the incredible people that I met, and all the ideas, opportunities and experiences that came from that. I can't imagine what my life would have been like without it.