Discussion Time!

I tip my cap to you for choosing your child over a man.....some mums do not put their kids first, which (of course) is not good.

Courtney Connelly

My dogs are beyond repair. They're so spoiled-- they're so cute that they have a "fan club" including many of the neighbors, one of the ladies who work at our town's Domino's, & our primary mail carrier, some of whom have given them gratiuities. True story.

Courtney Connelly

Thank you........I've had the continuing help from having had WLS many years ago.

Courtney Connelly

I have found that being nice and taking initiative have always helped. I am a college student and because I have been nice and taken initiative, I am now in a major that I love working with people I love working with; I have a job that I love; an awesome roommate; and an awesome place to live. I will admit...I wasn't always nice and I didn't always have initiative. But since I made my resolve to always be nice and to take initiative, a lot more opportunities have arisen for me! <3

Kjrsten Schindler

Cheers, Ben! I really appreciate it!

Moving past the anger/hurt my child’s sperm donor put me through. Realizing what some of the things he did really were abusive and not something a partner does and getting help for it. Putting all of that together and start working towards making a life for myself and my child and incidentally, finding the love of my life in the process who loves my child more than I could ever hope for. Putting in the work that will allow me to live my best life with the little family that I am creating, free from him and his flakiness. And actually giving my child a father who will always be there, no matter what ❤️

Emily Slanga

Wow, this is such a big effort you made! I know it takes a long time until you can feel results, if you have to start from rock bottom. I takes guts and perseverance to work against what our mind keeps telling us. But this feeling of hope for the future, like you can breathe freely and fully for the first time in your life, is just worth every effort we have put and will still continue to put into it. 💜 I wish you all the very best and of course, I'm very proud of you, too.

Thank you so much, Ben. This really does mean a lot. 😘💜 I have always preached about how we can "never be too old to learn new things", but I never really understood just how far that goes until therapy.

I’m so happy for you!! That is huge. And yes, just because we’re “late” to doing something never means we are TOO late.

Oh wow!! What a huge accomplishment. Congratulations and good on you!

This is excellent! I’m a perfectionist myself so this is always a tough lesson to learn!

Severing ties with toxic people is hard. I’ve had to do it too, at times. But so worth it in the end!

I’m very proud of you!! That IS hard work, I know. I’m so glad you’re seeing strides in your life.

Wishing you luck!

I still have more weight to lose, but over the course of many years, I've lost & kept off a significant amount of weight. (Am about 225-230 pounds now, but was 380 at my highest.)

Courtney Connelly

I’ve been enjoying different hobbies, from cake decorating to dog training to video/audio editing. But what I’m most proud of is I’ve let go of this toxic perfection I used to have about each thing I make. I know I’m getting better with each attempt and what I make is ok in its own way. I’ve applied these lyrics from a song in Encanto: “…it didn’t need to be perfect It just needed to be”

Moonpie

Cutting many toxic family members and friends from my life it is very hard I loved those people but they effected my mental health incredibly It took me a few years to get over them ( Why am I lying I’m still trying to get over them🌝) its hard to do so but mental health is as important

pandaK

I've been investing so much in my mental health this past year and it's paid off so much, physically and mentally. There were a lot of steps that led me to this point - finding independence, moving to a new city by myself, making new friends, re-evaluating my past relationships, being active as a routine part of my day, learning how to cook - all which doesn't sound like much individually, but... I was at my lowest low about a year ago. The progress I've made since then is ASTRONOMICAL. I don't burst into random crying fits anymore and my depression doesn't rule my life anymore. It's still there, but it's significantly easier to get out of bed in the morning and look forward to the future. Life just feels amazing in a way I never felt before, and it took a lot of giant steps over the past year to get here.

Right now, I'm putting in some applications to find a new job. I've been offered a position and am still waiting to hear from the other place that I applied to. So, the payback will hopefully come later.

WOW!!

Keep at it, that’s an awesome endeavor

That’s great, good for you!

Even just being able to endure the hardships and disappointments of covid is hard work, which has paid off with deeper character and resilience.

I hate to say this, but nothing. I have a lot of things I started and put a ton of effort into, but covid and the lock downs tore my life apart. If covid hadn’t happened though; I would have been promoted in my job with a pay raise, I would have progressed my acting career with an upstart studio, I would have gotten my shoulder fixed that year, finished my first marathon, and I would have owned a house. But like I said, I lost all that during covid. I’m not complaining because I can get almost all those things back with time, I’m just being honest here. I’m okay though, I’ve learned I’m a lot tougher than I realized as well as how much higher I can climb from rock bottom.

I started drawing, ignoring the "you can't do it" comments Now i have another hobby that can calm me down. 💖

Eikku

Hm. There are a lot of things. I generally think putting effort into something you care about will always pay out, and I love to work and be productive. For me personally, the one thing that took my greatest effort in my life this far, because I had to work against my own head. I finally cut myself off of a toxic person of my past and allowed myself to receive c-ptsd therapy, at age 35, 20 years late, but still not too late. I would have never believed them, if anyone told me that my life could get THIS happy and hopeful.

I write scripts and publish them on Reddit. I know I'm still a newbie at that, but I would love one day to be paid and have comitions and write scripts for other VA's and stuff. Maybe one day :D

Studying 3 languages at the same time. Damn it was rough! I remember how much I cried thinking I wasn't ready and that I was not enough. Eventually, I started to get better with time, and now I speak 4 languages and I am still learning English as a major🧐🥺💗Don't give up monkeys, you can do everything!

Rebeca23