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Things that got better.. a positive thread.

(51 Posts)
nanna8 Wed 04-Mar-26 02:47:23

I used to be terrified of heights but I have found since I had an eye operation for a macular hole a few years back I no longer have this terror. Whoopee! I used to feel sick and really distressed before this ( when I was a young child I got stranded on a cliff and broke a toe and had to scramble up with no help ) . I have also noticed I don’t get so travel sick as I used to. All makes a change because, as we know, so many things get harder with age.
What has got better for you ?

yogitree Mon 09-Mar-26 10:48:21

Ilovedogs22

Lovely to hear yogitree. Its great not giving a tuppenny toss isn't it. 🙃

It really is Ilovedogs22

Cossy Sun 08-Mar-26 13:33:32

I think caring (a lot) less about what people think of me.

Appreciating family and friends even more.

Saying no and meaning it and not feeling guilty.

petra Sun 08-Mar-26 13:21:37

That should read up the mast 😂

petra Sun 08-Mar-26 13:20:57

Allira

I used to be frightened of spiders but now I talk to them,although I probably couldn't pick one up.

My fear of heights has got worse, can't even see someone on the edge of a precipice on TV without feeling ill.

I am not as self-conscious now as when I was a teenager and young woman. Probably having children and becoming more assertive as a result has helped.

I’m the same with heights.When there’s someone climbing the Shard or others I shout at the tv NO NO NO.🤦🏼‍♀️ 😱
I remember clearly the first time I paralysed with fear. Prior to this incident it had never been a problem.
I volunteered to go up the must to fix something, I was 18.
I literally could not move.
I’ve had so many horrors with heights but the odd part is: I love bridges 🤷‍♀️

Witzend Sun 08-Mar-26 13:04:42

Correction, before they were NOT deemed a protected species!!

Witzend Sun 08-Mar-26 13:03:57

Unaipon

Good heavens, what is wrong with me -
I'm not afraid of heights or thunderstorms, I don't get travel sick, have no fear of spiders, don't get migraines, & have never heard of any superstition involving magpies.

The ‘magpie’ one was once widely known, but IMO that was before they were deemed a protected species, so still uncommonly seen.

Now the buggers are everywhere!!

fancyflowers Sun 08-Mar-26 12:55:56

I used to be terrified of wasps. I mean, really phobic in that I would run away screaming if one came near me.

Then one afternoon when I was teaching, I saw one, just before I felt a sharp sting on my leg. There was no possibility of running away screaming in front of my classroom of seven year olds, so between us we killed it, although not before it had stung a little girl in the front row.

Now that I have been stung, I realize that it wasn't the worst thing in the world to happen.

Whitewavemark2 Sun 08-Mar-26 08:38:40

Confidence - nothing worries me. I just enjoy life and thank the gods for my continued existence.

Allira Sat 07-Mar-26 22:52:08

I used to be frightened of spiders but now I talk to them,although I probably couldn't pick one up.

My fear of heights has got worse, can't even see someone on the edge of a precipice on TV without feeling ill.

I am not as self-conscious now as when I was a teenager and young woman. Probably having children and becoming more assertive as a result has helped.

nanna8 Sat 07-Mar-26 22:23:27

I used to get tonsillitis over and over again when I was in my 20s and 30s. At least that stopped - probably immune or something . Possibly because I had young children then and they were germy or just sheer stress!

StTrinians Sat 07-Mar-26 14:40:24

I realised that I have become much less critical of my appearance with age. I used to worry too much about appearances. It may be wearing less make up, washing my hair less, but I feel much more accepting of my self, warts and all.

BrandyGran Fri 06-Mar-26 09:27:17

Yes me too Polly99 horrible things!

Polly99 Fri 06-Mar-26 07:12:45

Another thing I think you grow out of is mouth ulcers. I haven't had one since my mid fifties but they use to be the bane of my life.

Curlywhirly Fri 06-Mar-26 00:29:06

I used to get eaten alive by mosquitoes when on holiday abroad. But for the last 10 years they have completely ignored me - such a relief as I was allergic to many of the bites which came up in huge lumps that took days to disappear.

SueDonim Thu 05-Mar-26 22:43:52

That’s one way to look at it, Nanna8! grin

Both my parents had migraine, though I think I’m the only one of four children to have them. All of my DC have had migraines at some point but thank goodness, they’ve not been troubled too much by them after adolescence.

TiggyW Thu 05-Mar-26 13:39:42

Def no periods!!
I had cataract surgery last year, which virtually corrected my myopia. 👍Yippee! I can see when I go swimming!
The downside is that now I can’t read without glasses, so I still wear varifocals to avoid the dreaded neck chain!🙄 🤣

theworriedwell Thu 05-Mar-26 09:38:39

My first migraine was a few weeks before my fifth birthday. It was diagnosed as jealousy attention seeking due to the birth of my baby brother. That continued till my 50s when my attention seeking stopped with the menopause.

In truth migraines dominated my life and I was probably 11 or12 before it was taken seriously. Till then it was ignore me and force me to school or whatever.

I feel sad for that little girl.

M0nica Thu 05-Mar-26 09:22:59

SueDonim

I had my first migraine when I was eleven. The doctor told my mum I’d grow out of them. Sixty years later, I’m still waiting for that auspicious day. hmm grin

Yes, my migraines also started when I was very young, but got confused with another medical problem I had.

The doctor, once the confusion was sorted out just dismissed them, without any diagnosis. I worked out what they were for myself in my late teens.

My maternal grandmother also suffered badly from migraine, so there was a family history. Thankfully, although DD did have very mild migraine type headaches at one point, and we thought she was developing migraine, it cleared up so I do not seem to have passed it on to my childre, thankfully.

nanna8 Thu 05-Mar-26 00:27:03

Oh well, you are young at heart SueDonim 😀

SueDonim Wed 04-Mar-26 23:28:54

I had my first migraine when I was eleven. The doctor told my mum I’d grow out of them. Sixty years later, I’m still waiting for that auspicious day. hmm grin

GrammaH Wed 04-Mar-26 21:38:51

I used to be awful with heights then I went to a concert at the 02 and we were right up high & the steps were dead vertical but I was fine. Ive always been frightened of birds when they flap their wings, even just seeing one at close range freaked me out. We're currently in the Caribbean where little black birds jump on the breakfast table , sometimes 3 or 4 at once, but I'm coping OK. In the old days, I'd have freaked out & run away screaming!

Unaipon Wed 04-Mar-26 21:04:35

Good heavens, what is wrong with me -
I'm not afraid of heights or thunderstorms, I don't get travel sick, have no fear of spiders, don't get migraines, & have never heard of any superstition involving magpies.

sandelf Wed 04-Mar-26 19:28:13

No periods and all the faff/pain/mess. Being generally 'not sexy' enough to attract comment - lovely. AND not caring about that. The whole way society has changed so we are free to be so much more than was allowed years ago. Having a husband who has somehow really developed some insight into others' feelings. (He was never 'a stinker' but he was pretty unimaginative).

M0nica Wed 04-Mar-26 19:08:37

Migraine! I still get occasional mild attacks, but the real stonkers that knocked me out for days gradually stopped during my 60s. presumably nothing to do with the menopause, which happened 10-15 years previously, but they became less freuent, then ceased.

posset Wed 04-Mar-26 18:53:36

kittylester

BrandyGran

I used to be superstitious about magpies because of the rhyme :
1 for sorrow
2 for joy
3 for a girl
4 for a boy
5 for silver
6 for gold
7 for a secret never to be told.
During Covid a magpie with a broken wing hopped in my garden. I fed him for 4 years and called him Hop a Long!
He’s no more now but that cured me of that superstition- never tell that rhyme to yr chn!

One of my daughters was really worried seeing just one magpie on our way to school. I told her that seeing a heron on the same trip cancelled it out. Thankfully we did - we passed a canal, a river and 2 streams so I was on fairly safe ground.

It turns out that she told one of her friends recently and was really cross when her friend told her the truth.

Talking of Magpies and Covid, when Covid first reared its ugly head I kept referring to it as Corvid accidentally!