We asked our regular contributors through e-mail What positive changes have you made in your life that you’d like to brag on a bit? What’s that work you’ve been putting in? We got many interesting responses. Here are some of them. We have just copied and pasted their responses, not editing them in any way.
1. Keeping a clean house.
Looking back on my life, it’s surprising I ever had a girlfriend with how gross I kept my living spaces.
– BarcodeNinja
2. Almost two years out of a pretty long coke addiction (4 yrs daily user). Took all my money and my good feelings. Clean as a whistle and slowly rebuilding my life, losing weight, and I’m about to head back to my “hometown” for a wedding and blow everyone’s mind w how good I’m gonna look. 😀
– flecklessfella
3. Starting to work out.
I am now fitter than ever.
– DenXOffWhite
4. I used to smoke weed as soon as I woke up and was smoking throughout the day. Now I make myself wait until 9:30 PM. It’s not perfect but I’m very proud of my willpower!
– lilyhammer66
5. I’ve started going to the dentist again and have been really good about my dental hygiene.
There’s a lot of work I need to have done. Next week I have a root canal, then a crown. There’s a tooth that needs to be pulled, and I need a few fillings… But I expected that.
I was super depressed as a teen and small self-care stuff didn’t matter to me at all. I didn’t think I’d live this long anyway… and then I was just too ashamed to go. My teeth look terrible. I knew wherever I would go, the dentist would probably hate me. But the dentist I ended up at was really understanding. Educational, but not in a condescending way. I’m kind of looking forward to going back!
– kannakantplay
6. I’ve been better at attentively listening to others and not interrupting them. I also was bad about remembering people’s names that I just met. I’ve been doing much better at that as well.
– Acturbay
7. I am trying this new thing where I am asking for help when I need it and reaching out to loved ones for support instead of drowning in my problems and reacting with indirect self-harm like drinking and eating too much. I mean, I’m still doing that part but at least this time I’ve reached out before hitting bottom, so I’ve got that going for me which is nice.
– cmc
8. After doing the bare minimum in undergrad, I’m graduating with my Master’s degree in 1 week with a 4.0 GPA. It was a very competitive 1-year program and I was completely remote due to the pandemic. I did it while also working 2 part-time jobs and attending a required 21 hour per week internship. One of the hardest things I’ve ever accomplished and I’m really proud of myself!
– ratchmond
9. Just been going for a 15 min walk in nature every day seems good. It’s like 2 birds with one stone. You get a bit of light fitness. You get exposed to mother nature. And you get peace from people and urban. Wait that’s 3 birds.
– log_oclock
10. I’ve lost 20kgs since mid-December. I’m in the best shape of my life and came first in a 5k fun run 2 weeks ago.
– slightlyburntnags
