Your Greatest Accomplishment

Solo move across the country at 18 years old when my mom passed away.
Age 22, lost 50 pounds (found it years later!)
Age 25, completed Diesel school at the top of my class.
Age 29, left an abusive relationship (not sure now why it was so hard at the time, but it felt like the hardest thing I ever had to do)
Age 30, finally ditched living with roommates/boyfriends and got my own place (financial independence rocks!)
yesterday, I caught a fish .
I consider all of my accomplishments to be pretty darn amazing, even the little ones.

Oh, and ETA, Age 30, never married, no kids. I consider that my biggest accomplishment of ALL!

My greatest accomplishment today was getting paid for doing absolutely nothing

I'm 41 and have 3 kids 24,17 and 14 (14 yr old 11lbs 1oz and a natural birth, yeah I'm proud of that), and yes I'm proud of them they have grown up to be good responsible young adults, but hitting 40 was a bit of a life changing time for me, my kids didn't need me like when they were babies and so I looked at myself and decided it was time for me to concentrate on me and I did, I lost my weight and I got fit and I'm so proud of myself for that, it was time to invest in me so I did 100% I'm actually a size smaller now than I was at 18 when I met my hubby.

That I made it through college and even double majored (with honors), despite the fact that I got knocked up Sophomore year and I was a zombie the first part of Junior year.

Oh, and I'm 32

I'm 45, and like most parents I would have to say my greatest accomplishment has been raising my kids as best I can. I have two AMAZING boys, Padon (13) and Preston (10), and they are my life.

As can be seen in this thread, many people consider whether they have raised children well, or not had children to be an accomplishment. Either way, people do consider that in their accomplishments.

I have had people tell me that they think it is an accomplishment that having grown up in a very abusive childhood, and generationally in my family, that I married an intelligent, kind man. I have been in a happy relationship with him for 16 years (having grown up around only abusive relationships). I have had two daughters. They are good kids. They get along very well with each other and other kids. They are helpful to other children in school that need extra help. They excel in science and creative writing, among other things. Some of that is genetic (they were tested by the school and are advanced in the area of auditory memory and processing to what they said was an unusual degree), and some of it is environment growing up with a Dad that is a scientist and me taking them to Science World weekly and doing science with them everyday because I also studied biology and love it. So, yes, I have had people tell me that is an accomplishment to have come through what I did and to break the cycles of abuse in my family. The first kids in many generations to have not been abused (I am talking about criminal level abuse, and it was the police and district attorney's office that have said this to me as well).

However, my kids being 7 and 9, I am certainly not going to say that is my greatest accomplishment. I am not done yet. And also, I think expecting them to be my greatest accomplishment puts too much pressure on that relationship. My accomplishments need to be my own and not dependent on how well they do in life. But, on an internal, personal level, when I see my kids confident, being children, not having to face the adult things that I had to face as a child, yes, I do feel a personal, internal sense of accomplishment. It is a healing experience. It heals me, as a person, to see that, and to know that I helped contribute to that. And that because I am a parent, I have been doing my job as a parent. So, when people see my children and they come up to me and say, "Good Job!" I do feel thankful. But, I wouldn't go around saying they are my accomplishment. But, there are aspects of this whole process of becoming and being a parent that are personal accomplishments for me. And there are many other things in life that are personal accomplishments of that nature that make me a better person for having faced, and gone through because I had to, and I didn't turn away from what I had to do in life. And I allowed it to contribute to my growth as a person and to my wisdom.

And I understand why people that have had wonderful accomplishments will still say their children are their greatest accomplishment.

Edit to add: I also just want to add that I never would have posted any of this, had this not become a discussion about kids being or not being an accomplishment.

Competing and winning at county level for javelin.

This was a week before my c-section with my 2nd son in 2009. And this was after having lost 135 lbs. I met my goal weight a week before finding out I was pregnant lol. Talk about a test. But I truly changed my lifestyle.

Hope you can see the pic!

I am 38 and I could say that losing 110 pounds is my greatest accomplishment ......but no. I am living in the middle of my greatest accomplishment right now. I had the courage to leave an abusive marriage, I am raising 2 kids alone, I am back in school full time.....and this has all happened in the last 9 months.

Awesome. I did a similar thing! :drinker: :flowerforyou: