To ask what your best investment in yourself has been?

[HeyItsPickleRick]

Come on mumsnet, creep my lifestyle!

Inspired by the personal stylist post - I’m wondering what is the best thing you’ve bought for yourself?

Mine has 100% been my peloton and all the dumbbells. First exercise I’ve ever stuck to!

Thank you do you mind if I ask which one you went to? Because there’s a few now that have popped up? I just want to make sure I get the most bang for my buck because I can’t really afford this. Thank you.

Reading 'Healing Back Pain' and 'The Mindbody Prescription' by John Sarno. I was in my early twenties crippled by back pain and felt like I was on the scrap heap of life before I'd barely begun. Since reading and applying the books I've been back pain free from 20 years.

Thanks Jesus.

Sit/stand desk
Monthly massage
weekly yoga
walk on every lunch break

Works wonders for my physical and mental health

Maybe they are saving for Botox too.

Not all of this has been funded by me, but all worth it!

Our home gym - peloton bike, Concept 2 rower, treadmill, dumbbells and kettlebells

Weekly sessions with a PT who is laser focussed on women’s pelvic health and longevity - I have pelvic floor issues, scoliosis, hypermobility and trashed my knee 10 years ago, but I walk around completely pain free

6 months of 1:1 career coaching (funded by employer)

IVF (part employer part me)

Various bouts of psychotherapy to deal with childhood trauma (mostly covered by health insurance)

Microbladed brows

Getting my colours and style done by House of Colour

Mounjaro. I've lost 3 stones and have gone from a portly looking size 14 to a slender size 8/10. My swollen ankles have disappeared. My painful knees have gone. My cholesterol is super healthy again. My jawline and cheekbones have reappeared.

Currently lazing by the hotel pool in my skimpy bikini, feeling very smug body confident for the first time in 20 years.

Wow, what was your weight/height? I’m also a portly size 14 but didn’t think I’d be eligible?

Therapy. Yoga. Acupuncture.

I wondered that too

My teeth are hateful. I can't afford to change them. I mean they are bad.

@Karmakamelion @Redpeach civil servant.

2 private sessions with a physio, which sorted out pain from an old pulled muscle and gave me the exercises to correct it if it ever returns. And weekly pilates - at first in a live class but then online with the same teacher when she t moved away: https://headingleypilates.co.uk/.

Dental implants after years of having teeth like Shane McGowan. Water flosser, barely ever need procedures at the dentists. Liposuction in 2002, absolutely worth it. Varicose vein surgery. Healthy eating plan, lost lots of weight but sadly it's creeping back again.

Who do you watch? I do Yoga with Adrienne on YouTube but haven't found a pilates equivalent!

Private surgery. Just because the NHS doesn't fund it doesn't mean you don't need it. Now I can walk so much better and I expect my life to be much easier in future.

Thought of another - physiotherapy, and keeping up with the exercises every day no matter how tired I was or how much pain I was in. After I had DS my knees started to get more and more painful, then my entire legs, I could barely walk at all. Doctors just wanted to throw painkillers at me but one finally referred me to physiotherapy which completely cured my pain (which turned out to stem from back issues due to overcompensating for the extra weight of pregnancy). If I had just taken painkillers and reconciled myself to limited mobility I'd not have the life I have now. But it took a lot of work, a lot of pushing through the pain to do my exercises. So a big investment of effort.

@Karmakamelion

Civil Servant ?

😊 they weren’t the biggest things in the world…
Walk the Cleveland Way-I asked round friends/family who wanted to do this, I was shocked my teens were keen & joined in most sections. We did one section a month, a core group who did all & people who came for some sections. We missed it when it ended, and we’ve now started a new walk for this year.
Reading 50 books-I joined a book club & met new people, and have been reading things I would never have picked up, and having interesting talks about all subjects.
Go to the Chelsea Flower Show-wanted to go for many years, finally did & absolutely loved it 😁
Organised a meet up with people I went to Uni with in the 90’s-ended up camping as a big group in N Wales, and my son climbed Snowden & we all went on the zip wire there-& we now all meet up as regularly as we can.
A full moon picnic on the moors-we went on a supermoon on a fabulous clear night & drank Prosecco sitting on deck chairs in sleeping bags & woolly hats watching the stars & chatting shit-it was brilliant 🤩
Going to see bands & plays I’ve been meaning to see for years.
These are just a handful of the stuff (obviously 😁)
There are many smaller things-finishing projects I’ve had on the go for a while, etc, learning a couple of new skills.

It honestly doesn’t sound like much written down, but all these little things just make my life feel fuller and richer than it has for a long time-and I’m seeing more of my friends than I have done for a long time, cos kids, aging parents. I’ve been stuck in a rut for years, and this has changed that 😊

Electrolysis on chin and upperlip. Now I am in my 80s and should be sprouting whiskers, my face is as smooth as can be.

Autism diagnosis. Very validating and I now understand my quirks.

Investing in my health/well being:
-private gynaecologist to sort out menopause issues. I started peri in my mid to late 30s and my GP wouldn't even consider it being menopause "as I was under 45" (I'm 44 now). He also wouldn't test to rule out other things. Symptoms were horrible and debilitating. I'm on HRT now and it has been life changing.
-private GP to do a full health screen (with lots of tests!).
-private women's health physio to sort out pelvic floor. I thought mine was buggered due to having kids and that there was no muscle tone etc. She checked me over and actually it's the complete opposite (too much tone and holding muscles tight all the damned time which means when I need to wee, I can't squeeze any tighter!).
-PRK laser surgery to correct my sight. I had terrible astigmatism and really poor sight. Contacts cost a bomb, as did my specs, and prescription swimming goggles. Last year, a lens fell out of my specs and I freaked out as didn't have a spare pair and would have been screwed if I'd not been able to fix it. Again, the PRK has been life changing, and my eye sight is better than 20:20.
-treadmill/fitness equipment for my home.
-MJ injections. Menopause caused weight to balloon - diet and exercise weren't touching the corners. I'm now back to pre-menopause weight and feeling a LOT better.

I don't want to live forever, but I'm a single parent of 2DC. I need to look after myself in order to be able to work and provide for my kids -and support myself!

Other things:
-making time for myself. Whether that is to have a long bath or do more reading.
-trying to see friends and family when I can.
-doing cool things with the kids - camping, gigs, bike rides, stuff like that.
-paying for helpful gadgets for the home (to help remove some of the mental load): Thermomix (I can cook very well, as can the DC, but this is a game changer), robovacs (which also mop the floors).
-my cats - I wouldn't be without them!!

Me too. Decades after I got
the kids teeth sorted!

@nooschmoo you've inspired me to have a 60 list.

I'm 5ft 6 and weighed 12st 8lbs which made my BMI 28.4 I think? So just a fraction under the BMI 30 that's required. So I just took an inch off my height and added a few extra pounds. Job done.