Dopers, help me! Kinda stressed out today and need to focus on some positive stuff.
So tell me how your life is better than it was 10 years ago. It could be something big, it could be something small.
If your life is not better in any way - please don’t post here. Thanks!
I’m married, I have a new baby, and I’m finally working on that PhD I’ve been putting off forever. I also moved to an incredibly beautiful part of the country.
melodyharmonius, I think you should start Feel Good Friday threads every week. Make it a tradition. 
I’m a lot more confident than I was even a year ago. I smile a lot more. I’ve let go of the need to feel superior to anyone. I have a lot more peace in my soul.
And looking back, I’ve had some nice accomplishments in art and music.
Hmm… THIS is an interesting one for me. Let’s see…
Because I lost that nasty corporate job that, although giving me a very fine paycheck and benefits, ate up a lot of my time and energy and forced me to deal with unpleasant people five days a week, I now get to spend much more time with my family than I did 10 years ago.
I am less stressed in many ways than 10 years ago.
My parrots, Sydney, Sunshine, and Griffin, didn’t exist 10 years ago. Although they can be little snots at times I’m really happy to have them in my life.
I’ve realised I don’t have to have a career - it’s enough to just have a job.
I now do stuff because I want to do it, not because I think I should do it.
I’m now more concerned with my own opinion of myself than other people’s opinions of me.
Ten years ago I was in college. Not a bad time, but now I have a job that I (mostly) love; I live in a completely different part of the country, which I also love; I’m married to a wonderful man (whom I love too!); I have the time and money to travel a little.
I’m confident in who I am and that I may have something worthwhile to say in a meeting or book club or whatever. Ten years ago I wouldn’t have spoken up in a church study group for anything. But now I contribute to the discussion with ease. At work, too, I know my stuff and I’m able to speak in meetings without nervousness. That makes me feel good.
And I’ve learned a ton about cooking, and I put a good tasting dinner on the table almost every night. (We’ll ignore the disaster that was dinner on Wednesday… last night’s dinner made up for it by a long shot!)
Hm. In the last 10 years, I finished college, finished grad school, got a job, got another job (starting in May!), got married, got pets, and bought a house.
So, although I was dating husband 10 years ago, we weren’t married, I didn’t have my Ph.D., I’d never lived on my own, I hadn’t yet vastly improved my relationship with my Dad, I didn’t have my house (which I adore) or my dogs (ditto), I hadn’t had the experience and fun of living in a decent-sized city for 7 years, and I had no idea what I was going to end up doing with myself. It’s been a good decade.
Great idea! My life is definitely better than it was ten years ago, in just about every way I can think of. Just off the top of my head:
I’m far happier. I’ve gotten treatment for depression, and I’ve learned (I’m still learning, really) how to deal with life, how to be comfortable being myself, and how to make myself happy.
I’m married to the most awesome (and hottest!) guy on the planet, and am currently brewing up our new son or daughter.
I’ve got a job I love, doing something I wouldn’t have thought I was capable of ten years ago.
I was able to get this job because I went back to school and got a second degree completely unrelated to my first - and did really well. I’m proud of myself for not only taking that on, but suceeding.
I’m making more money than I ever thought I’d make, and am well on my way to making even more.
I’m eating better, drinking less (none at all, now that I’m pregnant), and exercising… well, I’m exercising from time to time, which is more than I was doing ten years ago.
Ten years ago, I either hadn’t met or had only a passing acquaintence with most of the people who are now my friends.
I’ve lived in several cities and had a wide variety of jobs in ten years, and I’ve been enriched greatly by that.
I’ve learned to do tons of things just for fun that I couldn’t do then.
All of the illnesses and deaths of my loved ones over the past ten years are now behind me.
I really have to remember to stop and appreciate all of this more often!
Jesus. 10 years ago I was still in high school, my last year. I hated high school, hated my peers, hated the pressure of college entrance exams - in general just pretty miserable.
Now I have a job that pays well, two degrees, and am living with a boyfriend that is probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me. We’ve been going through a rough patch (not because of anything between us, but because of family troubles on his end we’ve been forced into a temporary long distance thing) but I think we’ll get through all right.
Life isn’t too bad. I was just thinking today how lucky I am to be working in a job that I (mostly) enjoy and to have people around me that I love and that love me.
[ul]
[li]I live in a nicer house in quieter neighborhood than I did 10 years ago, with my wife who I didn’t know 10 years ago. [/li][li]I’m somewhat better-off financally than I was in 2000, due to raises, savings, and selling my previous house at a good time.[/li][li]My sister’s two-year-old toddler from 10 years ago has grown into a really cool kid.[/li][li]I know a lot more interesting people than I did in 2000 (mostly through my wife).[/li][li]I have a way-cooler computer and cell phone than I did 10 years ago. With them I can pay bills online, check my email on the go, and deposit checks in real-time.[/li][li]I 've seen these shows or read these authors in the last decade, and they’ve made an impression on me:[/li][li]30 Rock, Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under, Mad Men, The Comeback, Extras (and more).[/li][li]Michael Chabon, Rebecca Skloot, Magnus Mills, Malcolm Gladwell, Jonathan Franzen, Jonathan[/li]Lethem (and more).
[/ul]
Ten years ago, I had a whole different life. I had a one year-old with major health problems facing skull surgery and a lot of unknowns. I had left his abusive dad and had no money, no job (caring for that baby was a full-time job), no car- had to ride the bus, in Tucson, in the summer, with a 25 lb. toddler that couldn’t walk. Life sucked for me. It’s waaaaay better now, except that baby still makes my life difficult, just in different ways. 
Ummm 1) i don’t live in a city i hate… i won’t name where i was because other dopers might be offended…
2) I’m separated from my wife… We are an example of how a separating can actually lead to being better friends…
3) i have an awesome lady in my life… (she might be reading this and turning red lol)
4) My kids are great… i can’t believe how lucky i am to have fric and frac…they are better than their mother and i deserve and they amaze me all the time…
5) I quit smoking… and cut WAAAy back on drinking…i might be in better shape physically now…
Mainly because of my 9 year old daughter. She brings incredible joy into my life every day.
My industry is more stable now so that’s taken away a significant amount of stress.
I’m no longer working in an essentially dead end job.
Not in a long distance relationship with a woman who was cheating on me.
I now run my own business.
Quit smoking.
Ten years ago I had a decent job that payed well for what I was doing. Today I’m unemployed.
Ten years ago I was a drunk. Since then I’ve sobered up and earned my college degree, and am at work on my Master’s.
All in all, I think I’m better off.
10 years ago I had a 2 year old and a 4 month old. I don’t really like babies and toddlers all that much, I think they get much more fun when they are a bit older. So my life is better because I don’t have to deal with diapers, nursing, potty training, etc.
Ten years ago I was in the dating scene, which sucked. Today I’m happily married.
Today I’m a father, and seeing my son when I come home from work brings me joy every day.
Today I’m making a LOT more money that I did ten years ago.
Ten years ago I had a mortage; today I own my house free and clear.
I have a two-month old granddaughter! And I get to spend all day tomorrow with her! Whoohoo!
I had two kids in diapers ten years ago. I don’t really have memories of that time because I never got enough sleep, never had time to read a book, never had time to do much of anything for myself.
Ten years ago I had a drone job at GiantSoulessCo and a noisy apartment in Phoenix, a buttload of debt, and my husband’s new, expensive career (see “buttload of debt”) was stalling out.
Today I am an executive at a museum I love, co-own (with the bank) a pretty good house in the midwest, have the payoff schedule for the BofD worked out with an end in sight, and my husband’s career is going better than it was, although not as well as we’d like yet.
All in all, things keep moving in the right direction.