What's the best thing you've ever done?

[maicoman]

Going to a field on the outskirts of Ardrossan in the early 1970s to watch my first motorbike scramble Little did i know how much that would shape my life in years to come  1 wife 2 weans and 100s of brilliant times and people i have met traveling the length and breadth of Scotland over the years racing

[tamthebam]

I volunteered for a project in Glasgow to help asylum seekers with job skills.

It was interesting to hear what they had done before. I'm not sure what the Libyan guy who'd been the main engineer at a petrochemical plant would have made of being interviewed for a lowly admin job and I remember thinking "we should be using this guy's skills in this country"

Anyway I got an insight that I wouldn't have got reading the Daily Heil (which I don't)

[Richey Edwards]

1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

Probably looking after my parents when they got too old to look after themselves, was getting a bit depressed that I was struggling to think of anything tbh..

That's a wonderful thing to have done.

Don't belittle yourself by saying you struggled to think of any. I am sure you have done many more things that were good. You seem a really good guy.

[Central Belt Caley]

2 hours ago, RuMoore said:

Got a nuke on MW2. 

Just the one? 

[Duszek]

Going back to uni to study a subject I loved (English Literature) after previously being kicked out of a law degree for making hee haw effort. I'd only chosen law because I got good grades in my Highers, I had no actual interest in it and was found out soon enough.

Studying great literature on the other hand was a fucking joy.

[Shotgun]

A lass from Dorset. Heather, I think her name was. Ah, to be 19 again. 

[Guest]

Realising that you can simply quit a job you hate, if it is taking over your entire life and affecting your character, without having anything else lined up. Something else will always come along.

Took me thirteen years to realise it, and looking back on what should have been the most fun and entertaining part of my life (late teens to almost thirty) was mostly shit.  Unlike the rest of it which has been only about half shit, to be fair.  



 

[Rugster]

2 minutes ago, IncomingExile said:

Realising that you can simply quit a job you hate, if it is taking over your entire life and affecting your character, without having anything else lined up. Something else will always come along.

Took me thirteen years to realise it, and looking back on what should have been the most fun and entertaining part of my life (late teens to almost thirty) was mostly shit.  Unlike the rest of it which has been only about half shit, to be fair.  



 

Absolutely correct. I took a huge pay cut to leave a job that was really affecting my mental health. Best decision I’ve ever made. 

[RuMoore]

4 hours ago, Central Belt Caley said:

Just the one? 

I didn't wanna show off...

['WellDel]

Gave up working in a job with decent prospects and pay, and used our very modest savings to allow my wife to follow her dream of setting up her own wee business doing a job she loves and is passionate about. Spent a lot of years working various manual labour and driving jobs with hours to suit around me being there to help her with a lot of basic tasks at the outset to keep her costs down, and also give our daughter as much time and stable a home life as possible.

Could be heavy going at times doing my own shift then maybe straight off to wholesalers for stock or doing deliveries, and also taught myself the basics of book keeping, PAYE submissions for her staff etc. to again save on her costs. Wouldn't change a second of it though almost 18 years later, seeing her still as passionate about it as she was at the outset. Definitely proud that i put my own career on the back-burner to allow her the opportunity to do it, and in the last few years I've found my way into a job in a completely different field that I enjoy and pays fairly well, so got a career of sorts back even though I am now 50 lol. 

[tongue_tied_danny]

Started drinking alcohol.

Through drinking I've cultivated a pretty impressive beer belly. It also helps me to unwind after a stressful day at work and it gives me the self confidence to text women at 3am.

[philpy]

Changed jobs. I left My last job after nearly 11 years, of which my last year and a half I was the yard foreman. The company was bought over by a large group of shareholders and placed unachievable sales targets on all the branches which meant we were burning ourselves out every day. I was off twice with work related stress and i was eating crap and drinking alcohol every night. Not to the point of alcoholism,  but it was becoming a bit of a crutch. April last year a position came up with a local company,  10 minutes drive away.  I've lost a stone and a half since January, mental health is much better, everyone looks out for each other, last year my wife was seriously ill, and I was off for a wee bit, and was told not to come back till she was home and resting. I got full pay, and every other day the boss was messaging me to check we were OK. I'm also £207 a month better off for just being in a basic yard and warehouse role.

[Honest Saints Fan]

Mentally and physically making it through the birth of an 11 week premature baby to then be diagnosed with an incurable cancer less than a month later. Through treatment I was sick every day and at one point was down to 7 and a half stone. I lost my hair and my back is so fucked from the cancer I lost 5 inches in height but I am still fucking here. I was talking to someone the other day about how I should be proud of myself and never really say it or think it but I am proud of what I've actually been through and still have most of my mind mentally intact... Ruggy might disagree!

['WellDel]

1 hour ago, Honest Saints Fan said:

Mentally and physically making it through the birth of an 11 week premature baby to then be diagnosed with an incurable cancer less than a month later. Through treatment I was sick every day and at one point was down to 7 and a half stone. I lost my hair and my back is so fucked from the cancer I lost 5 inches in height but I am still fucking here. I was talking to someone the other day about how I should be proud of myself and never really say it or think it but I am proud of what I've actually been through and still have most of my mind mentally intact... Ruggy might disagree!

Too fkn right you should be proud. That is one helluva battle you've been through and continue to fight. Huge respect and best wishes to you all.

[Central Belt Caley]

6 hours ago, RuMoore said:

I didn't wanna show off...

It’s the best thing you’ve ever done thread, feel free to show off 

(Sure I had about 14 or 15, me and my mates kept count in our xbox live bios to show off how good we were )

[Sugar_Army]

So many stories of inspiration.  Hopefully  it will help others achieve their own goals or dreams.

Below I have listed a few markers in my life but I always think the best thing I ever did was walk into a community centre after leaving school 18 years previously with a C pass in O-Level English to learn how to use a computer.  As basic as "This is keyboard, monitor and mouse."

A year later I was st college and 4 years after that I had an Honours Degree then went and did a Post Grad course at St. Andrews University.

I also stopped drinking around the same time (I did not have an alcohol problem, my mate bet me a tenner I could not do it for a month) and have not had a sip since (27 years in Oct).

Not drinking has meant i save enough money to allow me to travel, which is my passion. Just backpacked Japan in April, doing Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and Greece in the Autum and Peru in March. Peru will take my to tally to 60 different countries.  

I gave up my job in digital media to help nurse my late father during cancer and after he passed away I got more involved in helping those who could be deemed less fortunate, both as a volunteer and as a job.

I lost all my body hair due to tge stress of nursing my late brother who also died with cancer.  He collapsed and died in my arms.  Earlier that day I had I been lying on his bedroom floor with a duvet wrapped round us calling an ambulance while telling him I loved him and that he was not alone.  As much as it is shite having alopecia, I do not regret a single moment.

During the pandemic I redeployed to work in a care home for residents with dementia. Found it an incredibly humbling (and scary) experience.  I also helped deliver meds, nappies and food parcels to those isolating with Covid and was involved in the roll out of the first and second vaccinations.

On a current working level, I use many of the life experiences  above to support young people. Most of them from my city, but I have also supported teenagers who had to escape Alleppo in Syria and last week I was supporting a 17yr old who came to Scotland from Kiev.

In some shape or form all of the above trace back to me walking into that community centre and for that, I will be eternally thankful to those that helped me then, and those who supported me on my journey to get where I am today.

 

[throbber]

I switched jobs a year ago and the effect it’s had on every other aspect of my life has been incredible and I make much more money and do about half the work.

Work can seriously drag you down and ruin your life if you let it so getting out of an awful job and putting yourself first can only be a good thing. Now I just look back and laugh at how bad my last company was run.

[RuMoore]

8 hours ago, Central Belt Caley said:

It’s the best thing you’ve ever done thread, feel free to show off 

(Sure I had about 14 or 15, me and my mates kept count in our xbox live bios to show off how good we were )

I was lucky if I got more than 3 tbh. 

I was more of a hard-core search and destroy man. In COD4 when they still had the ability to team kill and not get kicked there was no better feeling than evading the mad man aiming the RPG at the ground at the start, being the only survivor and then 1 by 1 taking out the other team and winning the round. 

[atfccfc]

Plenty of personal achievements.  But I'm a first aider at work, in a public building. And we get all sorts of incidents.  Most are people (children mainly, but adults as well) getting cuts, tripping over or bumped heads. But occasionally we have something serious happen. And that's truly when our (albeit, 3 days training comes into play. We take it seriously at work and have weekly training sessions and talk amongst ourselves about experiences and incidents)

I've had to look after a person suffering a stroke, several seizures and anaphylaic shock.

Known that I've helped people feel more comfortable and trying to reassure them while more professional help has arrived feels like a great thing. Stressful, but proud. And rewarding when you hear back that they are OK and recovering.

 

Thankfully I've not had to use the defibrillator yet.

[LongTimeLurker]

Taking the advice of an SLF song called Breakout and getting out of Scotland when Maggie was still PM and working in various places around the world. If you are in a situation where limits are being placed on achieving what you are capable of achieving under a better set of circumstances don't settle for a life of being bitter and filled with regrets do something different try to break away...