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Every now and then, life gives you a quiet little escape hatch, and if you’re lucky, you take it. It might not seem like a big deal at the time, but later on, you realize you just sidestepped a situation that could’ve turned into a complete nightmare. And you know the best part? It's hearing how close other people came to making those same almost-mistakes.
Interestingly, people online shared their closest calls, the times they almost said yes, almost showed up, or almost went through with something they are now grateful they avoided. From almost-relationships that could’ve turned toxic to career moves that would’ve gone terribly wrong, the stories range from mildly awkward to full-on life-derailing.
More info: Reddit
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#1
I had a cardic arrest about four years ago. Dropped dead(ish) in the middle of my shift. Found out after I woke up about a week later that:
A) the manager who saw me fall was a former life guard and knew proper CPR
B) an ambulance happened to be passing about two blocks away
C) probably the best cardio unit in my state was a ten minute ambulance ride from where it all happened.
Walked out of the hospital about two weeks later, full recovery.
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#2
Went to k**l myself by putting a plastic bag over my head and tying it off. Figured it would be less messy to be found... my cat started going crazy on the other side of the door when I started to get light headed and feel sort of nauseous. I thought “oh right, you need your dinner and no one else will feed you” and I untied the bag to feed the cat. After the fact I realized my cat literally saved me from one of my lowest points.
God I miss that cat. Still can’t believe I came that close.
EDIT: hi friends! Thank you for all the warm thoughts and sharing stories of your savior pets! Do save your awards please, this is the most I’ve ever gotten, maybe give them to another comment that has yet to receive an award? Spread the smiles, love and support. Thank you so much, I’m truly touched by the human connection in this thread.
#3
My GF and I were going to see Cats, the movie.
Our Uber pulls up and straight away we notice something about the driver. To this day, we can't articulate what it was, other than to say he just felt "off".
We got into he car, already hesitating and a touch anxious. He looks at us in the rear view mirror and makes a comment like "two lovely ladies in my car tonight" or some weird s**t. A few minutes in, he makes another semi-s****l innuendo comment about "riding" with him.
My friend notices the handle of a knife just poking out the side of his jacket. She says "hey can we stop at 7-11, we need to grab a Gatorade real quick."
So we go in and refuse to come back out. We're considering whether to call the Police or not (it was so creepy, but what would we say? "Ah, some dude was creepy to us?) And while we're hesitating, he winds down his window, brandishes this f*****g hunting knife at both of us, screams something about devil-women and then just tears it out the parking lot.
To this day, my GF and I are so thankful that we got out of that Uber. Otherwise we would have made it to the movies in time and we would have seen Cats.
Intuition often plays a key role in the kinds of split-second decisions that help people avoid bad outcomes. According to Psychotricks, intuition isn’t something mystical, rather it’s the brain quickly combining past experiences, emotional signals, and physical reactions to form a fast judgment about whether something feels right or wrong.
That vague sense that something is off can come from subtle inconsistencies or familiar negative patterns, acting as an early warning system in uncertain situations. In many of these near-miss stories, that gut feeling is exactly what nudges people to step back before things go sideways.
#4
In 1992 I was 16. A bunch of us were about to leave a party and I called s*****n. But, my friend Pat kind of wrestled me out of the spot and I wound up jumping in another car since the first car was now full. The other driver and I watched as our friend's car skidded into oncoming traffic. Pat was airlifted to the local trauma hospital where his dad told a huge group of us teenagers that Pat had succumbed to his injuries.
Maybe that's not exactly "bullet dodged", but...
Edit: I guess this is what people mean by a comment "blowing up".
Pat's driver and my driver were racing each other. The road had just been paved and the shoulder was loose gravel. So when Pat's driver applied their brakes when the passenger side of the car was over the line on the right side of the #2 lane, the passenger tires kept spinning while the driver's side locked up, spinning the car into an oncoming pickup.
The oncoming driver was hospitalized and recovered. Pat's driver broke a femur, was convicted of vehicular manslaughter, sentenced to home detention, but was late to get home from high school one day which tripped the ankle monitor and the driver did 30 days. The 3 kids in the back had to be extracted by the Jaws of Life, broke some bones, got an insurance settlement.
However I don't think I would have died if I got s*****n. We would have left 15 seconds earlier and we wouldn't have hit that oncoming pickup. Or maybe we would have.
#5
My mother left me in one state and went back to my a*****e stepfather. She tried to get me to drop out of my senior year at hs, move back to their state and just get my ged (they wanted a live in babysitter, cook and maid) I was so lucky my grandparents let me move in with them and finish school.
Edit: thanks for all the love guys!
For those who have asked, I’m doing great!
I’ve gone no contact with my mother and stepfather (they’re still together) and it’s been one of the most healthy decisions I’ve made.
My husband and my kids are amazing and she’s missing out big time.
My grandparents are alive and well and are still involved in our lives.
#6
Freshman year of college I had a calc class. It was material I had learned before, but for various reasons they didn't give me transfer credit. So I skipped class quite frequently.
Though I usually slept in, one morning I find myself awake at 8:30 and not really feeling like sleep. Might as well check in on the class and see what's going on.
It was the midterm exam.
That said, the reason these moments stick with us so strongly has a lot to do with how the brain processes close calls. As explained by Taproot, a psychological "near miss" feels far more significant than a simple miss because it comes so close to a negative outcome.
The brain reacts to perceived danger before fully thinking it through, triggering stress and adrenaline, which leaves a lasting emotional imprint. That’s why people often look back at these moments thinking, “that could have gone really badly,” even if everything turned out fine in the end.
#7
My dad was going through severe depression 10 years ago and my life was equally s****y for a whole multitude of reasons, and it was rubbing off on me. I spent what felt like half an hour crying on the floor and working up the nerve to pull the trigger, then when I finally did, the safety was on; I sold my gun the next morning.
Wish my dad was able to say the same 3 years later (R.I.P.)
EDIT: Thank you all for the kind words and even awards! I never expected this thread to explode in popularity the way it did! I've tried my best to respond to everybody, but if I missed you, that doesn't mean that I'm not thankful for your input!
#8
Not changing jobs in early 2020. Would have been a short lived promotion after early restructuring and layoffs.
#9
Was going to move to a different apartment complex last month...got injured at work and lost hours; therefore, couldn't come up with the deposit money in time. Last week some a****t was cooking m**h and caught the building on fire.
EDIT: re my username: My current apartment complex is notorious in my city for having elevator troubles, so in reality, username DOES check out! Also, you could say I dodged 2 bullets...1, the fire. 2, I know "bad stuff happens everywhere blah blah blah" but the new place really didn't strike me as the kind of place where methheads live. So I guess avoiding those kind of people for neighbors was dodging a bullet in itself!
At the same time, not every bullet dodged comes down to instinct or learning—sometimes it’s simply luck. Neuroscience Of explains that what we call "luck" is often just how we interpret random, unpredictable events that feel meaningful.
Life outcomes are heavily shaped by timing, coincidence, and circumstances beyond our control, yet we tend to frame them as intentional or deserved. Being in the right place at the right time, or avoiding the wrong place entirely, can make all the difference, even if we only recognize it in hindsight.
#10
When my great aunt passed away I was helping to clean out her house. I'm just dragging everything out of the basement and suddenly my dad is like, "Whoa! Put that down gently and let's move away from here." So I put the weird metal tube-type thing I'm carrying down and get out of there. Turns out it's a mortar shell from when my aunt worked in a munitions factor during WWII. B**b squad came and took it away.
#11
Not me, but I had a field service engineer working on one of my big robotic liquid handlers. He decided to bypass the safety pin that prevents the heads from moving while the cover is open *while he had a diagnostic program queued up on the computer*. What he didn't know was that the instant he reinserted the safety pin the machine would execute the queued instructions and start moving, and he had a hand inside it right in the danger zone.
I grabbed his shoulder and yanked his hand out an instant before it was crushed. He stopped ignoring me when I told him to stop bypassing safety lockouts to save a few minutes.
#12
I stayed up all night before a daytrip to Hong Kong. You know that daze when you haven't slept, you're just kinda robotic and doing the human stuff, nearly zero awareness of anything?
Well, I went to cross a street and my friend behind me SNATCHED my shoulder and yanked me backwards just in time to feel the WHOOSH of a doubledecker bus breezing past us. I just looked at him like "oh, thanks man" and it took a whole extra minute for my brain to process I would be fucken ded had he not grabbed me.
Interestingly, these close calls don’t just stay as memories, they can actively shape future behavior. RiskMach notes that near misses can push people in opposite directions as some become more cautious, while others may take even more risks.
When taken seriously, these experiences act as warnings, making people more aware of danger and less likely to repeat the same mistake. This happens because the brain sometimes treats an "almost" as if it actually happened, reinforcing the need to be more careful moving forward.
#13
Well, about 15 years ago I dated a guy for less than a year. It was an awful, a*****e relationship and I was happy to get out of it when I did.
About... 8-9 years ago, I saw him on the news. He strangled his girlfriend to death. He then dismembered her and lived with her body for a month or so before he was caught.
Edit: wow. Thank you for all of the awards. I've actually written about this before on askreddit under a "have you dated a serial killer?" Question. Here was my answer which gives a bit more detail on it.
"Not a SERIAL killer... but I dated a killer.
He was not a killer at the time.
We were young, and met on a dating website. He went to my high school but graduated a few years before me. The first... month? Was ok.
Then he changed.
We had a huge fight one time because he said something silly. I don't even remember what it was, but I playfully threw a pillow at him. He immediately flipped out, punched a hole in my door and told me he'd make it so I would never have anything to come back to.
Another time, he FINALLY got a job. Didn't have one when I met him and I was paying for everything. After job searching for months, he got one. It's his first few days at his new job, and all of a sudden he doesn't want to go in. No reason, he just doesn't feel like it. I tell him he better get to that d**n job or he's going to lose it. After a lot if arguing, he gets ready and we both get in the car so I can drive him to work. As I'm driving, it gets MORE heated and he starts strangling me while I'm at a red light. The red light was right next to a gas station and I pull in there while his hands are around my throat. I manage to get him off me and I get out of the car and scream, "what the f**k?!"
"I'm sorry. I blacked out. You just... pissed me off so much! I told you I didn't want to go to work!"
The relationship lasted less than a year. He cheated on me with some girl, and for the first and only time in my life, I was GLAD someone was cheating on me. You can go live with her and be someone else's problem now.
Then years later when I saw him on the news, I felt really bad for that thought.
He had handcuffed his then girlfriend (who had just had his baby) to the bed, and strangled her to death. He thought she had cheated on him. He then dismembered her body and lived with it for a month in their apartment. Eventually, the smell tipped some people off along with his gf not being seen by family in a bit.
The baby was ok though and was taken in by the girl's family.
He went on the run, but was later caught and is currently in prison."
No news article though. I have posted a news article with it before and got banned. Hopefully with all the info I gave you, plus someone guessed the state below, you can find it for yourself so I don't get banned again for "posting personal information" by posting a public news article. Lol.
#14
I was walking down the street in downtown Chicago and I heard a loud bang followed by a woman screaming. Somebody dropped a full 2 liter bottle of soda from the 13 floor and it just missed me. It was essentially a giant bullet at that height and speed. The woman screaming was about 5 feet behind me (she was the 2nd closest to being hit). I'm pretty sure that bottle would have k****d me if it hit me.
Edit:
Thanks for the awards! I immediately reported this to a nearby police officer and he said they were trying to find the guy who was trying to hit people from the 13th floor earlier that day. That's where I got the 13th floor.
For those of you who say there's no such thing as a 13th floor in America, fine... 14th floor, but on the same height as where the 13th floor would be. For non-Americans, 13 is unlucky so some buildings will call their 13th floor the 14th floor.
Another edit:
Lots of discussion on why Americans sometimes skip the 13th floor and why Asians sometimes skip the 4th floor. I’ve been to a hotel in Asia that skipped both (4th floor for the superstitious local Asians and 13th floor for the superstitious traveling Americans/Westerners).
So the actual 4th floor is called the 5th floor. The actual 13th floor is called the 15th floor, the actual 20th floor is called the 22nd floor, etc.
#15
Not my story, but a girl I knew had had a few drinks and decided to hitchhike home, a town about 40 min away from the one she'd been drinking in. Note- it is very common for people to hitch hike in this area.
She gets picked up by a car of guys, all seems fine until she points out they can drop her off just up ahead, and they keep driving. She had that 'instant sober' feeling. She plays it off like she's clueless and totally down to keep hanging out with them, acting like she's very drunk meanwhile they're back in more forested area of the highway. Then she fake dry heaves and says she about to puke, really putting on a show so they stop to let her out. She books it into the bushes and just doesn't look back until she's safe.
Edit: oh my gosh you guys, not even my story stop giving me awards! To answer some common things in comments
-from what I'm aware of no charges were ever pressed, by the time she made it to safety they would have been long gone and she had no info like names, license plate or anything.
-Yes, smart idea once in that situation, definitely not smart to be in that situation in the first place though.
Edit 2: I just remembered another "not mine but"= my mom as a late teen/early 20's ish was with a group of friends out drinking one night and one girl wanted to hitchhike, the others didn't. She gets picked up never to be seen again, not even her body found.
Don't drink and hike hitch people.
At the end of the day, these stories prove that sometimes the best decisions are the ones you don’t make. A canceled plan, a weird vibe, or a last-minute change of heart can end up saving you from a situation you’d definitely be ranting about today.
Still, not everyone realizes they’ve dodged a bullet until much later, sometimes way later. Want to see how close things really got? Scroll on for some of the wildest, funniest, and most relatable near-misses people have shared.
#17
About 10 years ago, I was in a relationship with someone, and she became pregnant. We were only a few months in, and I was terrified. But I did the right thing, stuck with her, did my best to help her through her pregnancy, turned my whole life upside down... sold my house to move to the other end of the city where her daughter went to school (she was divorced, had a kid with her ex husband).
Everything was going great until she became pregnant. We were having a lot of fun, and enjoyed each other's company very much. The instant she became pregnant, it was like a switch had been flipped. She became a straight up psycho. It wasn't just hormones from pregnancy... this was a whole other level. She was psychologically and verbally a*****e. She took being unreasonable and belligerent to a whole new level. I asked what she wanted for dinner one night, and she responded with "You should KNOW what I want for dinner! You're supposed to just MAKE it!" And it turned into an hours long fight over how the hell I'm supposed to know what SHE wants for dinner. Apparently I wasn't in tune with her enough to know and that was an unforgivable error. This is one of hundreds of little things she did to make me feel like a piece of s**t. She NEVER missed a chance to take a shot at me. Miss my turn while driving somewhere, and have to turn around? I'm the most embarrassing boyfriend she's ever had, and she can't believe she even ALLOWS me to drive anymore. S**t like that, all day, every day. It was demoralizing, and I was broken for years because of her a***e.
Anyway, we move into the new house, and within a month, she leaves me. So all this s**t I did to turn my life upside down... I sold a house and bought a new one, which costs a lot of money in real estate fees/moving fees, and it was a more expensive home. Worse than that, I now had to deal with this f*****g psycho for the next 18 years because she was carrying my baby.
On top of all this, she had been cheating on me, and was with her ex bf now. That's who she was moving in with.
But I was going to be a dad, which was cool I guess. Wished it was under different circumstances, but not having to see her every day was going to be nice.
About a week before she gave birth, I ask if it's okay if I'm there when the child is born. She says "I really need *other guy* to be there."
"I'm okay with that if he is."
"I gotta tell you something. There's a chance it's not your baby."
And after fighting with her for 3 months to get the baby's blood type, it was inconclusive who's baby it was. So we went to the DNA test. Which she fought against me about, finally caving after I laid out in text everything she had done to me, and now she was leaving this question of whether or not I have a child unanswered.
It wasn't my baby. Bullet dodged. This was an enormous relief. Having to deal with her for 18 years while we co-raised a child would have been a nightmare. I had witnessed how she handled literally EVERY COMMUNICATION with her ex husband (***not*** the same guy she cheated on me with and moved in with). She was a f*****g c**t to him. It didn't matter what it was about, she always found a way to start a fight.
#18
A friend had lost his job under suspicious circumstances. A few weeks later he asked me to take him to the bank, as I got near to pick him up I caught a train. He called to say never mind he would get someone else.
A few days later a friend sent out a message to a large number of our friends, this guy lost his job and was running a check cashing con - Can you cash this check for me? I'll pay you $50 if you do. The check is $500, he has no backing funds, you eat the whole amount. He did this to several friends in a few day to amass a few grand and was about to skip town when the cops got him.
#19
At 17 y/o I met and married a sweet little North Carolina daddy's girl.
had I not I would have still been hanging with my friends that just discovered h****n.
of the 3 friends, 2 are dead and one did 10 years in prison.
#20
Many years ago, my flight had just landed at Chicago O'hare and the plane was taxiing when the pilot suddenly slammed on the brakes. People were literally thrown forward against the seat in front of them. A few seconds later, another plane (taking off I think) went screaming by right in front of us.
No explanation was given, though our imaginations provided a lot of gory details.
#21
7.92 Mauser rifle bullet. When I was 15ish I was very depressed and got very drunk, found my great grandfather's WWI captured German rifle, found some bullets from that time, loaded it, and put the rifle in my mouth and pulled the trigger. Thankfully the bullet was not loaded properly / was a dud for being 90 years old at the time, and did not fire.
#22
There was a pile of stuff that people would leave at our house when I was at university, coats and stuff. Moving out day and we found a random samurai sword in the pile. We were messing about with it trying to make it go “swoosh”. I was stood facing my brother while he was swooshing it when the blade dislodged from the handle, flew straight past me and stuck horizontally into my headboard. So yeah my brother nearly impaled me while messing around with a random sword we found after a house party. Pics for proof:
https://imgur.com/gallery/yckKdtL.
#23
My newborn needed to be rushed to a super high level NICU to be put into a state of induced hypothermia, because he only had hours before he would suffer permanent brain damage. I live in a small town in the middle of no where.
The small town next door just barely upgraded their hospital to have that hypothermia suite, one of only a few in Texas.
He’s doing great, no sign of any damage.
#24
Hubs, my sister, and I were hanging out around my parents' house on a very boring 4th of July. We decided to wash my husband's new car sitting in the driveway because it was hot out and an excuse to play in the hose.
We were literally walking out the front door, and I said "eh, we should eat lunch before we get all wet and stuff", and everyone agreed, so we turned around and went back inside.
I was warming up something in the microwave (a hot pocket I think), and all of a sudden I hear the loudest BANG I think I've ever heard, from the direction of the front door. Hubs and I look at each other wide-eyed and run outside.
I was greeted by the back-end of a Crown Vic, smoking something fierce, plowed into the tree in the middle of our yard. For a split-second I was just stunned, then screamed to my sister inside to call 911. I looked over to the driveway, at the car we had been planning to wash just 5 minutes ago.
Totaled. Completely totaled. Brand new 2011 G6, destroyed. Guy hit it so hard it did a complete 90 degree turn across the driveway. He actually hit it so hard, it ended up ricocheting and hitting the other cars in the driveway, mauling 2 other cars. Yard was f****d, Crown Vic was f****d, tree was f****d.
We immediately assumed it was drunk driving, being the 4th and all...I went over to the driver's side and found a very old man, very bewildered, unable to comprehend what I was saying but conscious. I will never forget the look he gave me - confused, helpless, scared. I was on the line with the paramedics as they sent over the ambulances, and tried my best to follow their instructions. (My sister was only 14 at the time, so I handled the call)
Turns out dude was diabetic and had passed out behind the wheel due to low blood sugar, hit the gas pedal with his weight as he passed out, and was plowing down our residential street at about 65mph. He jumped the curb, drove down the sidewalk past another house, then slammed into my husband's car, and subsequently, the tree.
If we had been anywhere near that yard/driveway, I have no doubt one or all of us would have been seriously injured or dead. It was sheer dumb luck and timing that saved us. Huge bullet dodged...or should I say, huge car dodged.
#25
A few years ago I had pneumonia, but my whole family insisted that it was just post nasal drip, (Which runs in the family) after a week or two I woke up in the middle of the night when I couldn't feel my arm. After I got to the ER the doctor said that it was the worst he'd ever seen and he was surprised I wasn't dead.
I had 3 lbs of mucus cut out of my lungs and another two weeks in the hospital siphoning out the rest.
For three months afterwards I could barely walk half a mile without starting to pass out and I still can't run for more than 200-300 yards without collapsing.
#26
My high school sweetheart and fiance was my bullet.
He ghosted me out of nowhere, no explanation...just gone. So needless to say, no wedding. I sent the ring back to his mom cos I didnt want it and was pissed. I go on to live a great life, find a wonderful guy and we have been happily married for 21 years.
25 years later I find out that my old flame had been arrested for underage solicitation, sexting underage girls, possession of child p**n, and many charges of s*x with minors. Apparently Mr Big Man in his Community was arrested in a sting operation after this 12 year old girl's parents found a whole series of explicit texts and had found that he set up a "romantic" hotel room get-together for them. Police pretended to be her and he was caught in the parking lot of the hotel. Even better, he was married to the same chick he was apparently seeing while we were together, and had a couple of kids. All around the same age of his victims.
Yeah...before finding all this out, I regretted for a long time that we didnt work. After finding out this had been going on for at least 20 years...I was rather glad i got ghosted!
Never been so glad to dodge a bullet....
Edit: Thank you for the awards...but if you can, please donate to local child a***e centers or battered women and children's shelters. They need help, especially this year.
EDIT 2: Apparently I wasnt clear in the sequence of events. He was arrested 5 years ago and the texting/sexting were part of the charges against him at that time. I have heard rumors from various people that he was active in the chat rooms back in the day...so he may have very well been involved with underage people that way as well, but I have no proof of that, only rumors.
#27
Almost proposed to a girl who had been cheating on me with a pile of s**t that called himself my best friend. This was years ago, and I’m getting married at the end of the month to the love of my life. Life has a way of working itself out.
#29
As a kid, after running errands in town with my mom, I was climbing into the backseat of our family station wagon. A semi-truck hit a power line pole down the street causing the still-live wire to fall, bounce off the roof of the car and hang across the open door just a foot or two above my legs.
Raised catholic, I wondered for a while after if I had actually died that day and that the rest of what I thought was my life was my purgatory.
#30
Around 30,000 pounds.
I was driving with my wife in town one snowy evening and we had pulled up to a stop light. I happened to glance up at the rear view mirror and saw a city bus heading towards us... and rotating sideways. I hit the gas and pulled ahead into the intersection and left into the turning lane, and less than a second later, the bus went sliding through right where our car was. It came to a stop on the other side of the intersection and fortunately didn't hit anything, but one second or two feet difference and we would've had some nice spinal injuries.
#31
I survived a rocket attack that landed about 10 meters from me, very close to where we were standing.
We were so close to the launch site, that the warning alarm came AFTER the rocket had already impacted. Thankfully, we were able to dive under a vehicle for some shelter and the three of us made it through unscathed.
#32
I interviewed for a job that I wanted desperately in August 2019. After the initial phone interview, I went in for an in-person interview at 4PM on a Wednesday. I had a rejection in my inbox by 8PM and was completely gutted. Then 2020 happened, and they laid off 60% of their staff and will probably go under. I'm thankful for that rejection every day.
#33
My dad was a truck driver in the oilfield in Canada. He worked a lot of long hours and every single day. So on weekends he would bring me and my younger brother on some of his jobs. We were on location and my little brother (3 yrs) and me (10 yrs) were waiting for him playing in cab of truck. My little brother opened the passenger door and my little arms closed it. Jobs done, we start our trek home going about 35 km/hr and the door flies open and I get sucked out of truck. I remember doing about 10 back flips as I tumbled out. Hitting the ground on my back a few times and rolling my way to a stop. I stood up before the truck was even stopped in absolute shock. Next thing I see my dad looking for me and he burst into tears. First time I ever seen him cry. I’m 33 now and he still won’t talk to me about it. Luckily the rig was in a farmers field. So when we were leaving I landed on softer dirt. Not a single scratch on me. Dad thought he ran over me with trailer. Don’t think we ever went to work with dad again. I work for the company now.
#34
Getting chased by someone with a knife across my apartment. I closed my door at the right moment so that person ended up stabbing my wooden door instead. The mark was there until I left the apartment a few years later as a constant reminder of what could have been.
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