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People Online Shared 37 Stories Of When Their Decisions Or Mistakes Changed The Course Of Their Lives
Our lives are built on the decisions we make. Some believe that our lives are predestined; however, you can’t deny that decisions have impact on what course our lives will take. Some decisions may have been mistakes, while some may have led to your dreams coming true. And it’s not only grand decisions like choosing your career, but also small ones, like accepting an invitation to go out.
Surely, most of us have such a story when a single action changed what was coming for us. Maybe some stories are more impressive than others, but they all make you believe that the butterfly effect must exist. Reddit user abayomi02 asked, “People of Reddit, What's one mistake or decision you made that completely altered the course of your life?“ and people shared the most interesting tales.
Do you have such a story? Share it in the comments down below. Also upvote the ones in this list that made you believe in the butterfly effect!
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Wanted to see the Eiffel tower.
Me and my girlfriend at the time were traveling from New Zealand to my family back home in Sweden. We both decided to spend a bit more money to fly back through Paris instead of Amsterdam, just because we wanted to see the tower. It cost us maybe an extra $50 and we got to see it on the landing and then take off, but never actually set foot in Paris proper because we were poor students.
When we landed in Auckland, New Zealand, jetlagged to s***, we turn on our phones and notice that we have about 50 missed calls from our travel agent, which was odd. When we call her, she sounds super relieved and out of breath. She tells us the flight she originally suggested to us, the one from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Ukraine. My brain couldn't process that information at the time, but once I woke up the next day it hit me like a ton of bricks. $50 made the difference between seeing the big steel thingy that has so many photos of it and bring sent to Sweden in body bags piece by piece.
Sometimes the absurdity of my existence comes over me, and this story always gives me goosebumps. One hell of a story to tell over beers, though.
Forgot hamburger buns.
Dad died, depressed, was without a job for over a year. Applied at a few different places and heard nothing back. Went to a bbq at a friends house and stopped at the store first. We got everything we needed, went out to the car, started packing up and realized we forgot hamburger buns.
I go back in the store, am walking down the frozen foods aisle and run into an old coworker, who happened to now be a manager at one of the places I applied at, months ago. Chatted it up with him for a little bit, and 3 days later, I get a call out of the blue to come in for an interview at his company he worked at.
Ive been with the company 18 years, last month, all because of that chance encounter in the frozen food aisle, all because I forgot hamburger buns.
This is the thing though--you often have to know someone on the inside to get hired, as most people look similar in a resume--but if you have a recommendation from someone already working there, you become a known quantity.
Freshman year I asked some kid in the college dorms cafeteria if we could sit as his table because all the others are full.
Start small talking and he mentions his tuition is free because his dad is military. I’m like wait... my dad is military and I’m paying?
He says that it’s because his dad is now disabled. Well it turns out some of my dads ailments from military service qualify him as disabled and guess who got free college after that. And my sister too.
They hide the website pretty well and they DEFINITELY don’t tell vets about the program for their dependents so my family never would have known if I hadn’t sat down with some random guy. Thanks guy!
When I was 27 i missed my usual train to work and had to wait another 30 minutes. So I got to talking to a random guy who turned out to be a doctor, he noticed dark patch under my nail and recommended i go get it checked out. It urned out to be subungual melanoma (Skin Cancer). I thought it was a bruise and probably wouldn't of went the doctors over it. I never saw him again.
I have shared this before, but it's crazy how much my life changed because I decided to ask my parents a question.
When I was about 10 years old my parents and I were in our backyard clearing out a ton of weeds that had gotten out of hand. I had trouble focusing because our next door neighbor had this really adorable puppy and all I wanted to do was play with him.
We found out that they were actually going to take him to an animal shelter because their son was not taking care of him like he promised. I decided to ask my parents if maybe we could get him instead. I was an only child and never really have anyone to play with unless a friend would come over and the thought of having a puppy to play with whenever I wanted to was great.
My parents agreed and our neighbors offered to sell him to us for $20, which is really cheap for a dog when you think about it, but a lot of money for a kid. I had that saved up and immediately agreed and promised I care for him and love him forever. So, he became my puppy and like a brother. After a few days of debating I named him Snoopy.
Snoopy became my closest friend. He made me laugh, played with me, and would just hang out and watch TV with me. He was always there for me, especially through some tough times in my life where I was extremely self-destructive. He saved me from myself. He was there at my side through tough breakups where all I ever wanted to do was lay in bed. He was an amazing friend. He was there to see me graduate 8th grade, high school, and college. I hoped he would be there on the day I got married and maybe be around for when I had kids, but unfortunately as much as we wish for things, sometimes they don't happen.
I flunked out of my first school. I imagine if I'd stayed and gotten my degree, my life would have been a lot different. Instead I ended up working for a few years, realizing the value of a degree, and re-starting my life.
It's made me realize that kids shouldn't be forced into college right after high school. Some of them need to work, or travel, or whatever, to figure out for themselves what their path is going to be. 18 is way too young to point a finger at someone and be like "okay now you need to decide the rest of your life."
Yes! My sister had to make this decision and is now trying to figure out what she really wants at 33
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So true, and college is not the only path forward. Some people would be much happier and get more use out of an apprenticeship, or going straight into a career path. I know too many kids with a world of debt and a useless degree for which they have no interest.
Damn right. I had zero interest in college after being tossed from THREE high schools and getting my GED. Joined the Navy, saw the world, went to work, THEN I earned my degrees; both Suma Cum Laude. Had to get the crazy and wanderlust out of my system first, I guess....
agree so strongly with this! one of my biggest annoyances is forcing children to decide their life path at 18. i quit college, got a job i love & have been doing for nearly 13 years & now, at the age of 32, i'm doing part-time uni in a subject i love. when i was 18 i had no idea what i wanted to do. now i've lived somewhat i'm much more sure.
I think a 'gap year' should required in the US before college..
I think it should be MANDATORY to take at least a year off, but then that would allow/encourage kids to make a rational choice about their future. That would bankrupt the college/university cash cow & paper mill.
Don't know about nowadays, since times are constantly changing, but back in my day, taking one or more years off between high school and university was pretty normal in Croatia. Mostly because entrance depended a lot on luck as well, since the schools would accept only a limited amount of students, which was always less than the applicants. I'm the last generation of these applicants. Graduated in 2008 and started university in 2012 officially (in Korea). The cultural difference here prompted people to ask me why I started university "so late" and what was I doing all this time. I just said that the preparation process takes time because money and such. That's something they understood without question. Closer friends, however, know more about the background and understand that too. Even knew someone who was in my similar situation.
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I had no idea what I wanted to do at 18 so chose my college course based on a random comment one of my teachers made. I graduated, got a job in that field, and have hated every day at work since. Problem is I’m reasonably good at it and earn decent money. To change fields now would require a huge salary cut and another degree. Roll on retirement! 😞
I totally agree with you. I left college because I was studying to be a teacher, the population had dropped and schools were closing. So I went on with my life, got married, started 5 businesses, and went back to school 20 years later, just to tie that loose end up. I really enjoyed being an older student, in a program for people who had left college for similar reasons as me.
It starts at 12 over here: secondary schools are specialized too now.
"okay now you need to decide the rest of your life." - And go through a lifetime of debt trying to achieve that degree.
We've always told our kids that at 18, they don't need to figure out what they're going to do for the rest of their life... they just need to figure out what they're going to do NEXT. My 18-year-old has decided to take a gap year and concentrate on his writing before choosing between college or trade school next year. As long as he holds down a job and writes every day, husband and I will continue to be supportive.
When I was teaching I knew most of those kids considered college to be high school without parental oversight. They had no discipline, no idea what they wanted to do with their lives and were only going to college because that's what they were "supposed" to do. HOW DO you know what you want to do with the rest of your life when you are 18 and have NEVER done anything? I always suggest that kids, out of high school, get a job, NOT TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES, but to learn about different things, see if anything appeals to them, or travel, or just read. It is a waste of their money, their parents' money, and they don't care about "learning" they just want to party without having a parent telling them what they can and can't do.
Our local high school had Juniors (11th year) take career aptitude tests that would determine what study path -- Medical, Business, Vocational (Service, Mechanics etc.) -- that they would be placed on the following year, their senior and final. Upon seeing the incredible anxiety and stress this placed on my teen boys, one of whom was forced in an obviously-incorrect move, into the business path, them having been told that THIS was their future, I immediately denounced any of the career testing results and told them to choose what was currently interesting to them. To idea that those in charge of our children's education saw this whole concept as beneficial is beyond me. Any parent of older children (teens +) KNOWS that, excepting the few very-rare cases, the 24 years and younger person has very little in common with the 25 years and older individual they turn out to be.
A degree can also be useless, because you'll never find a job relevant to the degree you actually have because the job market is f****d. At least in the UK it seems to be. :/
I rushed into uni at the age of 17 not knowing what I wanted and hoping there'd be jobs - there weren't - wasted 8 years as far as the PhD before I got a job doing something else, which I enjoyed better and which took off.
Also, it's ok to go to a trade school! We need welders and plumbers and technicians. Plus making $20hr after completing 2 yrs of education is kinda good.
You risk being stuck in a subminimum wage job forever. Better to make some effort at figuring out what you want early.
People also need to realize degrees are not the only way to get a career, there are trades which are cheaper.
That was basically me, too. Managed a semester and a half, right out of high-school, then left. Worked retail and other jobs for years, finally went back and got a graphic design degree when I was 35 or so, Now my wife and I run our own successful business. We're encouraging our teenage kids to take a gap year or two after high school.
public service corp: 1-2 years of mandatory paid public service for 18-20 yr olds. lottery based system for jobs. Mixing up social economic classes and instilling a sense of civic ownership. cheats and scammers do morgue duty. Military service counts. Free state college or vocational tuition afterwards.
Yes, but there is also the idea that you are locked into any one path, unless you are looking at being a doctor, you can try a few things.
Depends on the job. For many people changing career path would necessitate further training and a huge drop in salary. Most can’t afford the luxury of “trying a few things” when they have bills, mortgages and kids to pay for.
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A buddy of mine called me up one day to tell me he and his toxic controlling girlfriend had broken up and he wanted to celebrate with a few drinks. At the time, I was living a very antisocial lifestyle, and I almost said no, but something that day told me I needed to get out of the house. So I agreed.
Turns out that was the night I'd meet my future wife. When we were reminiscing about that night, my wife said she, too, almost declined going out.
Not the biggest change compared to others since Im still a minor but I completely stopped playing games, and watching Youtube. One day something happened to my friend that made me realize these things I do thats been taking 10+ hours of my days are completely pointless and wanted to do something better. Now I got new hobbies like workouts, cardistry, and I also study more now.
Said yes to going to the pub.
I was on a backpacking trip around Europe. At a hostel in Belfast this Australian guy who was in the same dorm as me asked if anyone wanted to join him for a drink. Me and a New Zealander tagged along. We had an absolutely epic night in what was then still a city under martial law. Next day we all went in different directions but I kept in contact with the Australian.
At some stage, months later, he mentions that I should come and visit him in Australia. About six months later I did. I had a fantastic time, travelled around Australia and liked it so much that I applied for a residency permit.
Thirty years later I'm still here. It's been absolutely great, but none of that would have happened if I didn't say yes to a few beers all the way back in the 80's.
This could have been me. I'd have applied to a permanent residency in Australia if the chance had come up - loved it so much.
Ordered a pizza from Dominos. Wound up with the worst case of food poisoning I’ve ever had, I was essentially bedridden for 3 months and I’ve since developed severe post-infectious IBS that I’ve been struggling with for the past 3 years. I’m basically not functional probably 50% of the time, it’s essentially destroyed my quality of life, and I’m terrified that I may never have a normal life again. It’s taken everything I enjoyed or was passionate about away from me.
Flying into Tulsa from San Diego in 1998- coming home on a 3-week Libo (leave from the service), after a 16-month deployment.
A few days before, there had been a bad ice storm and the roads were still slick.
My wife insisted on picking me up from the airport after I suggested taking a cab home. I didn't want her driving on those slick roads., because there was an 8 mile stretch of country 2-lane road from our house to town, and it could get pretty treacherous, due to minimal maintenance. She refused to drive an old Cherokee Chief that I had at the house and chose to drive her 2WD Ranger pickup.
She lost control of the truck and went down a 40' embankment, losing her life in the process. We had a 1-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son at home, that grew up without a mother, and I've spent the last 22 years kicking myself for not simply p****** her off to the point that she wouldn't drive, and I could just make up with her when I got home.
I should have argued harder with her or had one of her brothers come and pick me up.
I met my new daughter for the first time, with her mother gone. I was basically meeting both my children for the first time, as I had deployed when my son was my daughter's age. Neither knew me, and both were absolutely terrified and confused.
I was still obligated to the Corps for another year, but they did right by me. I stayed home on hardship, drew base pay until my EAS/discharge, dealing with being a single parent, PTSD, and transitioning to civilian life.
The happy ending is that both children had a great childhood, grew up smart, well adjusted, and successful. Daughter is finishing her master's degree, and my son is a successful electrician raising a young son on his own.
There's always a struggle in my mind that I'll always deal with. My wife wasn't going to EVER move from Oklahoma, and I planned on being a career Marine, so we would have ended up divorced, no doubt, and I wouldn't have the bond with my children that I do now. I lost the love of my life, but I gained a great relationship with my kids. My children lost their mother, but they didn't have to grow up with an absent father.
Life is funny...
I am so sorry for your loss. You sounds like a great Dad and I am glad you have a great relationship with your children,
I read the book 'I, Claudius'. Loved it so much I scheduled a trip to visit Italy. While touring the sites, randomly met an american guy who was an IT guy (like me) for an american school there. A few weeks after coming back to the states, I email him and he tells me he's getting married and moving back to the states and offered me his old position. Three months later I was on a plane back to Italy. Lived there for 4 amazing years and made some great lifelong friends.
Turning on my old xbox.. Right after high school I didn't go to college or work.. I stayed inside my parents house for maybe a year and completely isolated myself from the world due to fear of growing up.
One day I was bored and decided to power on my old xbox 360 I hadn't played in a few years and I noticed my XBL account had a friend request from months before that. Accepted the request and it was one of my childhood best friends I hadn't talked too in maybe 6 years. Then our third childhood bestfriend joins the XBL party and we all start to hangout and it completely cured my depression and got my life on track. Now 8 years later and we live together have good jobs and are all doing really well!
When I was a kid, my mom, my cousin, my sister and I were all about to go to my great grandma's house from my grandma's house. It wasnt a far drive so my mom allowed my sister who was 11 at the time to sit up front, leaving my cousin and I in the back. My cousin chose the window seat behind the driver. For some reason I felt a need to sit in the middle instead of taking the other window seat. 2 minutes into the drive over, a woman who was clearly not paying attention, slammed right into the back seat of the car where I chose not to sit. Fire fighter later told us if anyone had been sitting there, they would be dead. Instead, all 4 of us walked out with 2 bruises and a scratch.
One day my foreman just flat out didn’t show up to work. I was vaguely familiar with what had to go on at the site, and who needed to do it, so I just started calling people, and talking to those on site saying I was filling in for him for today...
Fast forward a few months and people are saying they greatly prefer me organizing jobs, and management starts giving me jobs of my own. I start getting great reviews from clients and my jobs are making money. Eventually my old foreman gets fired (not because of me directly, but because of some questionable antics and poor performance).
Now I’m enjoying a significantly better paying and more fulfilling job. What started as a job to make a bit of money while I figured out what I want to do has turned into something with serious career potential.
I failed an unfailable class at university because I totally flunk studying. I was so sure it is unfailable I didn’t study at all.
I had to re-take the class in which there were group projects. Second time over, I was in a team with this girl.
I married her last summer.
So, your failure in class, led to your success in love. May your success lead to a change in priorities which will bring you a long, happy life together.
I jokingly signed up for a computer science class in jr high because it was the first year they were going to teach it and I figured it would be some bulls*** easy A. Turned out I love programming and I'm currently in my 18th year of my career.
Got accepted at the best state school where I lived. When my mom found out she tried to "not let me" leave for school. Her plan: get a job in a local factory and pay her rent (like she did when she turned 18) so she could use the money to pay for my 3 brother's college. My older brother was in an expensive private school already and I had 2 younger brothers. I moved out, went to college on my own and turn out to be the first kid to graduate (my older bro' flunked out twice), first to get a job, first to get married, first to have kids and first to be childless at a young age. If I had done what my mom had wanted, I would have been f****** for life by my standards....
Wanna bet OP is a girl and the family was once again prioritizing boys?
A friend asked if I’d drive with her to pick up her friend at LAX airport. This was so she could drive in the carpool lane. I said yes. I asked her friend to marry me 6 months later. We have two kids and have been married for 10 years now!
Have you asked her since if that was REALLY the only reason? I can't help but think she thought you two would hit it off and she was doing some subtle matchmaking there.
I met a guy online on AOL in 1994. Fell in love. Moved 2300 miles away from home to be with him. Could have been a disaster. But 26 years later, we are happily married and are still very much in love. Best decision I’ve ever made!
In 2003 I was coming to the end of university and wondering what to do with my life next. One particular evening, I was feeling a deep kind of existential depression, so I went online to distract myself. - maybe I could go travelling? Maybe I could find a job to apply for? Who knew? I just needed something as an anchor, something to work towards.
I landed up on the page for the Athens 2004 Olympics and decided to give myself a post graduation goal to work towards. I planned on buying tickets to a couple of events, then I saw a Volunteer section so I clicked on that and filled in the details.
The months went by and nothing much happened. I met a guy, he was horrible, we broke up, I got d***** depressed, worked in a call centre job I despised and eventually couldn't handle it and moved home, cutting ties with the city, the s***** ex and everything else.
By the time the Olympics rolled around, I planned on concentrating on me so I headed off for some weeks of volunteering. Well, day one of volunteering I met the man who would go on to become my husband, moved to Greece, learnt a new language, got married, and 10 years in still happily married with two awesome kids, all because I felt s***** one evening and decided to surf the internets. I could have ended up on any number of websites so I don't know why I took a look at the Olympics committee, but such is life.
Another “said yes to going to the pub” tale.
1991, I was in Edinburgh, walking home from signing on, and a mate from my previous job pulled up in his old yellow Mini and said he was off to meet another mate from the same job. It was noonish and I had nothing better to do, so f*** it, pint.
The other mate was in town with one of his pals to discuss a game (we were all RPG gamers) and I tagged along.
Long story short, we started an RPG company, got bought by Wizards of the Coast, traveled the world with them, got our game back when they canned RPGs and twenty odd years on, did a Kickstarter that raised well over $100,000 last year.
So, yeah, the moral of these tales is that if someone asks you if you want to go to the pub, the answer is yes.
Quit my job without a plan.
ended up panic applying at every s****** little place in town, got a job at a coffee shop. met the love of my life, supported eachother through going back to school, got actual careers, got married, had two amazing little girls.
all because I got in a fight with my boss and walked out.
Experimenting with my sexuality. Turns out i’m a flaming lesbo and i have the best girlfriend with a cute scruffy old dog living our best lives. Planning on buying our first home in the spring.
Decision. It’s 1994. I work in a warehouse with my brothers best friend. He tells me about a concert that night that him and his girlfriend are going to and asks if I want to go. My brother was supposed to go but backed out the night before. They have 4 tickets, 1 each for him and his girlfriend, 1 for my brother and 1 for a girl his girlfriend works with. I went. The other girl and I have been together for 26 years now.
All of a sudden it started reading like a math word problem, and my eyes glazed over… 🤣
Went to meet my bio mom. 8 years later, a crippling disorder, brain damage, and some significant trauma later... turns out there was a very good reason I was adopted.
I got to meet my sisters though, and I'm the uncle to a whole herd of nieces and nephews, and I wouldn't trade that for the world. Makes the damage worth it, honestly. The way their faces light up when they see me and how loved I feel with them is something you can't ever replace.
I don't get this, I know I'm Prolly being dumb but can someone plz explain, tia.
There was an incident where a good friend of mine got kicked out of where we were living. The owner called me and told me the whole thing and said I was welcome to stay because I had not created any of the problems. My friend came to tell me about it and told me “we have to move out”. I told her I was told something different and she snapped at me that I couldn’t stay there if she wasn’t there. I was too much of a coward to stand up to her and deal with the consequences of losing that friendship. So I left that house and struggled for years. School would have been easier, I could have saved, gotten a car. That was such a defining moment and I’m so sorry I chose wrong. I was 18.
I can really relate to that. Not many have the experience and grit at eighteen to face their friends. It is a hard but valuable lesson you learned.
Taking Videography as an elective in middle school instead of Photo like my sister. Throughout high school I won numerous student filmmaking awards, made tons of friends I never would have had I not joined those classes, developed a super useful skill, and got paying jobs throughout high school because of my skill set. I even got hired at my current job because of my video skills.
When I moved and switched middle schools wayyy back I threw out all my stuff except for my math textbook. When I went to my new school the math class I was in was a little bit behind from where I was and I told them but they didn’t believe me. But then I showed my old math textbook to show that I was way ahead of that class. Two of my classes were changed, and in both of my new classes we’re a bunch of friends I made. If i threw away that math textbook I wouldn’t have any good friends right now.
Well, you don't KNOW you wouldn't have made friends in the other class. That's the thing about stories like these - they're telling the known part, but of course none of us know the unknown part. None of us can tell the story of NOT going to the pub and NOT meeting our partner because if it happened to us we don't know it (thankfully). I like reading these stories but they're not the only possible happy timeline :)
I moved in with my then boyfriend after only knowing him for three months. I had a bad feeling about it like we’d crash and burn.
That was in 2001. We’re still together and married now.
When I was 7 I was at a Cubscout summer camp (Boyscouts but for smol child) and I saw a Garter snake in the grass. I tried to pick it up, and of course, it bit me. I cried and got myself patched up but from that moment on I've been OBSESSED with Reptiles. Their Physiology, Behavior, eating habits, mating procedures, etc. All because I decided to f*** with a Garter.
Going away to college out of state. Met my wife, got her pregnant while we were both in college. With a lot of hard work and a supporting family we both finished with a degree. We got married and now own a home in the state I went to school. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought my life would turn out like it did. Zero complaints.
I lied to CPS when I was 13, I finished growing up with my dad instead of being taken away. I knew what I was doing and looking back I wouldn’t change it. I’ve met some wonderful people and I don’t think I would’ve met them if I had told the truth that day
I've heard this about many children. Unless the child is in danger, they are better off with their parent.
Playing Catch with my Buddy on a Parking lot right after Winter time. I slipped on Rock salt as I threw and tore a bunch of muscles in my back.
Went from throwing 85mph at the age of 15 down to low 70's. Still played college Ball but I was never the same. My dreams were crushed and I think about it every day.
Losing your health is the worst thing in the world. I went from being a powerhouse flipping houses to spending 75% of my life in bed. Treasure your health!!
Dropping out of school illegally in 8th grade, bad decision at the time, led me to join the army at 18, I would have graduated high school at 20.
The army enabled me to invest in real estate, get my current career, it overall set my entire life up for success.
Telling a long term friend in my social group that I had feelings for her, it basically split our group.
I knew she probably didn't feel the same way but I couldn't hold it in anymore I had to say something, if there was even the slightest possibility I needed to know.
Aftermath was very meh.
I can trace where I’m at right now in my life to one single event: switching schools in 3rd grade. It’s a crazy butterfly effect and if it didn’t happen I have no clue where I’d be right now.
I almost switched schools in 3Rd grade. If I had I would've left my friends behind. I didn't switch though and now I'm happy because I'm in a great middle school with my friends.
Story two: My childhood was the stuff of nightmares. But I was a smart kid and got into my number one choice university at 16. But my family had rented out my room, I was homeless and couldn't afford anything. Meanwhile, my friend of mine was begging me to go down to the social services office with him, because that's where they helped people who had NOT got into uni because of grades, to figure out next steps. I really didn't feel like it but he begged me because he didn't want to do it alone. I went and sat silently while the social worker sorted him out.. She asked me if I needed help and I just shrugged. My friend explained my situation to her. She told me to stay. She made a bunch of calls. She organized for me to be legally emancipated as a matter of urgency via the courts. She organized me accommodation, a government grant, all kinds of things. That fall, I headed to uni and started my independent life, and it changed my world.
Once upon a time, for about five years, I was alone, living hundreds of miles from my children (who I love dearly and missed every day), and I was in a job that I hated. Through that job, I befriended a very wealthy and powerful person. We had a wonderful friendship for about a year, at which point that friend confessed that they were in love with me. When I told them that I didn't reciprocate their feelings but hoped that we could remain friends, their response was to hit my person with their Italian sports car and then demanded that my employer terminate my employment lest they lose my former friend as a client. My employer complied. However, thanks to some legal maneuvering, I departed with a significant amount of money. With that cushion, I was able to move within ten-minutes driving distance of my children, open my own (now-thriving) business, and I'm marrying the person of my dreams next week. The simple act of making a terrible friend gave me all that's important to me.
Story one: before I was born, my mother was made to give up a baby against her will. I spent years searching for him without luck. Three years ago, our family decided to do genetic testing. It's not cheap, but we found out our heritage, which was really cool and full of surprises. Normally, I would have left it there, but something just kept bugging me to do it with another company as well for comparison. So I did it, just me, and discovered this match that I couldn't explain. The girl and I went back and forth, and suddenly the penny dropped. This was my niece, the daughter of my long-lost brother. Turns out she and I have a bunch in common, she is completely awesome and we have become very close. Was the best $75 I ever spent.
My life turned upside down when my seizures relapsed after 13 years of control. I had to quit my job, leave college, move back in with my parents and ended up on disability. For years things just spiraled downward for me. New to Facebook, I looked up some old friends. I found one and looked through her friends list. I found a mutual friend, one I had known since I was 12, but lost contact after they joined the marines. I contacted them and they responded. Turned out they were back, also living with parents and had a crappy job. I convinced him to go to college from his military benefits. We moved in together. Were married 2 years later and ended up turning each other's lives back around. It's been 12 years and so many positive things have happened. All due to browsing for a friend on Facebook.
I'm glad it turned out well:-) I dread my epilepsy ever going out from control again.
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I was in college, and had just interviewed at a fine-dining restaurant. I could tell I wasn’t the general manager’s favorite candidate. I was on my way back to my apartment when I stopped at a red light. I looked around and spotted a family-style restaurant. I thought, “Why not?” and turned into the parking lot. I walked in, still wearing my interview clothes, and asked for a job. I was hired, and started that night, working alongside a really nice guy. We’ve now been married 20 years and have two kids, all because that light was red.
I went to a grocery store and saw a flyer on a bulletin board. At the time, I'd given up on being any sort of musician, for many many years. The flyer was for a music-related society specializing in a very narrow and obscure genre. I went to the meeting to check it out. Ten years later, I am now pretty well known in that genre, performed at festivals all over the world, and my musical life is thriving. All from one grocery store flyer.
Not really my story, but it does have to do with me. For the record, I'm Croatian and I live in S. Korea, happily with my (Korean) husband. I once told him how my mom and my grandma (may she rest in peace) kept telling me how my grandpa wanted to go fight in the Korean War back in 1950, but that his wife (my grandma and my mom's mom) wouldn't let him go to war. My husband's reaction? "Thanks goodness he didn't go. Had he gone to war, he would've probably died and you wouldn't have been born." I found it kind of awkwardly sweet of him to say so, but considering my mom's birth year, yep! He's right, I may have not existed.
...or he would have been in love in Korea, keep living thete and you would born and find your husband and friends anyway. :B
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I switched schools after my disastrous sixth grade year and had to retake it because my teacher hadn’t taught us s**t that year. But because of it I met wonderful people who yanked me out of my depressed/having thoughts about wanting to die mode and pushed me forward in life. That new school is the reason I’m in the high school track I’m in and the reason why I’m thriving. Thanks guys, you saved my ass. I would have probably ended up going down a really bad road if I’d stayed.
Same here. We moved and I had to start a new school where I was bullied so badly that I wanted to kill myself. Just couldn't figure out how. My parents felt helpless, but my mom's boss found out and pointed her in the direction of Catholic school even though we weren't of that faith. It was 3 weeks into the school year and all the schools were full. Mom called the only school left to call, explained the situation. I was welcomed there and years later I realized that school was full. Sr. Elizabeth accepted me anyway. She made room for me. She saved my life.Consequences: Met my best friend there and we are celebrating a friendship going strong since 1970. Because of an after-school volunteer program I participated in I made my career decision of being a nurse, and so on and so on to the life I have lived full of butterfly effects.🦋
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Was looking for a job. Saw the girl behind the counter of a store I never go to smiling and laughing with a customer. Decided to apply, got the job, became bffs with the girl. Started hanging out with her friends who were from another state I'd never been to (we were all away from home at college at the time.) After graduation, I moved to the other state, married one of her friends, had twins. My parents even moved to be close to us. 20 years of happiness because I saw a cashier smile.
I joined a forum 8 years ago. Tried my hardest to socialise but the connections I made always ended up breaking. After about six months I wasn't visiting too much and I definitely wasn't trying to talk privately to anyone, I'd sort of burnt out on the 'dealing with people' thing. On one of my infrequent visits, I made a snarky reply to someone in a thread (I was in a bad mood). That person replied, so I replied, so they replied, etc. Seven years later they're my best friend, they've supported me in a way I've never been supported before, and they've probably saved my life on multiple occasions.
My grandfather was in the Army Air Forces (late 1940's). He was scheduled to fly over the Panama Canal. My grandfather had flown on this route multiple times. Bot one of the guys in his squadron had not. He asked my grandfather of he could take his place on the flight, to which my grandfather agreed. That plane hit some mountains, and everyone on that flight perished. Had my grandfather been on that flight, he would have never been a father to 7 kids, grandfather to 8 grandkids, and 17 great grandchildren. I talked to about it some time ago. I was the only one who he actually talked to about this...he had tremendous survivors guilt. As bad as I feel for the families of the other members, I told my Grandpa I was thankful it wasn't him on that plane. After all, we have a huge, close knit, supportive family. And we would have never been here had he not given up his seat.
One night a friend talked me into trying a pain pill called opana. I slowly got addicted to it, ended up in an abusive relationship, lost all of my money and savings, dropped out of college, overall screwed my life up. I slowly got clean and reconnected with an old friend in rehab, we started dating, had a kid and now we are living happily ever after. We’ve both been clean and sober for almost 5 years. Even though I hit rock bottom and went through hell for a couple years I wouldn’t have met my boyfriend and ended up where I am if that hadn’t happened.
I grew up with undiagnosed ADD and anxiety and was terrible about keeping track of paperwork and getting stuff done on time. Went to get my class schedule for the next semester approved late, and my undergraduate faculty advisor was off on some union-organizing crusade, so I went to the department chair, a senile old man who lost his doctorate for embezzlement. When the faculty advisor got back, he was livid -- a giant of a man screaming his lungs out -- that I had faked the chair's signature, because he had left instructions with the chair NOT to sign anyone's paperwork. "NOBODY GOES AROUND ME, YOU LITTLE PUNK!!!" Whether because of senility or fear of this guy beating the s--t out of him, the chair denied having seen me... until I showed him his own signature on his own paperwork I just happened to be able to find, even though I had known of no need why I should keep it once the registrar approved. Kept me from being expelled.
My grandparents were (and still are) horrible people. From the age of 3, my mom was forced to do all the household chores. Her two younger siblings, a sister and a brother, didn't have to do squat. My grandma sat on her fat [redacted] all day, making her oldest do all the work, forcing her to cook, clean, iron, do the laundry and watch her siblings. She was lonely and unloved. This led to her getting pregnant at 15, just so she could have somebody to love her. At 19, she went to college and met this dude. She was obsessed about her son, and this endeared her to the guy she had met. They got married by the end of their first school year, and along came a daughter just a few months later. They have 8 more kids now, with Number 11 coming later this year. They've been married a long time, and still going strong.
Had a full ride to play college baseball...was too depressed and sat home for a year doing nothing...I think about that choice all the time.
Accept it. Learn to get help for depression and take the steps you can handle. Going to Uni on a scholarship and being depressed wouldn’t have worked. You want medical help with that.
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When I was 19, I was dating a military guy from a nearby army base. He was sweet, but there was something off about the way his roommate acted around me. When I tried to surprise visit him, he wasn't in the barracks. His roommate then tells me "He has a fiance at home in NJ." On a rampage, I track him down to the local dance club on the base. Civilians need military escort to get in. When I approached the line and told the guys there why I was in line, one of them offered to escort me in. I did not find the AH cheater, but I did get the phone number of the soldier that helped me into the club. I've now been married to that soldier for 30 years.
My biggest one of late was deciding to jump on the opportunity when it came up to finally tell the woman I love how I felt about her. I had prepared for rejection and the end of our friendship. I had hoped for acceptance and a new chapter in our lives. What I got was the latter, plus an unexpected surprise in the form of recovering lost childhood memories and remembering that I'm actually a girl. Definitely not something I would have predicted would happen before I decided to tell her that I felt that we really were life partners. Definitely not going to complain since it's been the happiest time of my life ever since, though!
Sorry, I'm confused by "remembering you're actually a girl"?
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I decided to join a club at school in 6th grade even though it was already halfway through the year. If I hadn't joined I wouldn't have become friends with my best friend right now. I don't know if I would have been able to make it through quarantine without being able to contact her. (She was my only friend with a phone at the time and Covid was really hard on me emotionally.)
Story two: My childhood was the stuff of nightmares. But I was a smart kid and got into my number one choice university at 16. But my family had rented out my room, I was homeless and couldn't afford anything. Meanwhile, my friend of mine was begging me to go down to the social services office with him, because that's where they helped people who had NOT got into uni because of grades, to figure out next steps. I really didn't feel like it but he begged me because he didn't want to do it alone. I went and sat silently while the social worker sorted him out.. She asked me if I needed help and I just shrugged. My friend explained my situation to her. She told me to stay. She made a bunch of calls. She organized for me to be legally emancipated as a matter of urgency via the courts. She organized me accommodation, a government grant, all kinds of things. That fall, I headed to uni and started my independent life, and it changed my world.
Once upon a time, for about five years, I was alone, living hundreds of miles from my children (who I love dearly and missed every day), and I was in a job that I hated. Through that job, I befriended a very wealthy and powerful person. We had a wonderful friendship for about a year, at which point that friend confessed that they were in love with me. When I told them that I didn't reciprocate their feelings but hoped that we could remain friends, their response was to hit my person with their Italian sports car and then demanded that my employer terminate my employment lest they lose my former friend as a client. My employer complied. However, thanks to some legal maneuvering, I departed with a significant amount of money. With that cushion, I was able to move within ten-minutes driving distance of my children, open my own (now-thriving) business, and I'm marrying the person of my dreams next week. The simple act of making a terrible friend gave me all that's important to me.
Story one: before I was born, my mother was made to give up a baby against her will. I spent years searching for him without luck. Three years ago, our family decided to do genetic testing. It's not cheap, but we found out our heritage, which was really cool and full of surprises. Normally, I would have left it there, but something just kept bugging me to do it with another company as well for comparison. So I did it, just me, and discovered this match that I couldn't explain. The girl and I went back and forth, and suddenly the penny dropped. This was my niece, the daughter of my long-lost brother. Turns out she and I have a bunch in common, she is completely awesome and we have become very close. Was the best $75 I ever spent.
My life turned upside down when my seizures relapsed after 13 years of control. I had to quit my job, leave college, move back in with my parents and ended up on disability. For years things just spiraled downward for me. New to Facebook, I looked up some old friends. I found one and looked through her friends list. I found a mutual friend, one I had known since I was 12, but lost contact after they joined the marines. I contacted them and they responded. Turned out they were back, also living with parents and had a crappy job. I convinced him to go to college from his military benefits. We moved in together. Were married 2 years later and ended up turning each other's lives back around. It's been 12 years and so many positive things have happened. All due to browsing for a friend on Facebook.
I'm glad it turned out well:-) I dread my epilepsy ever going out from control again.
Load More Replies... I was in college, and had just interviewed at a fine-dining restaurant. I could tell I wasn’t the general manager’s favorite candidate. I was on my way back to my apartment when I stopped at a red light. I looked around and spotted a family-style restaurant. I thought, “Why not?” and turned into the parking lot. I walked in, still wearing my interview clothes, and asked for a job. I was hired, and started that night, working alongside a really nice guy. We’ve now been married 20 years and have two kids, all because that light was red.
I went to a grocery store and saw a flyer on a bulletin board. At the time, I'd given up on being any sort of musician, for many many years. The flyer was for a music-related society specializing in a very narrow and obscure genre. I went to the meeting to check it out. Ten years later, I am now pretty well known in that genre, performed at festivals all over the world, and my musical life is thriving. All from one grocery store flyer.
Not really my story, but it does have to do with me. For the record, I'm Croatian and I live in S. Korea, happily with my (Korean) husband. I once told him how my mom and my grandma (may she rest in peace) kept telling me how my grandpa wanted to go fight in the Korean War back in 1950, but that his wife (my grandma and my mom's mom) wouldn't let him go to war. My husband's reaction? "Thanks goodness he didn't go. Had he gone to war, he would've probably died and you wouldn't have been born." I found it kind of awkwardly sweet of him to say so, but considering my mom's birth year, yep! He's right, I may have not existed.
...or he would have been in love in Korea, keep living thete and you would born and find your husband and friends anyway. :B
Load More Replies... I switched schools after my disastrous sixth grade year and had to retake it because my teacher hadn’t taught us s**t that year. But because of it I met wonderful people who yanked me out of my depressed/having thoughts about wanting to die mode and pushed me forward in life. That new school is the reason I’m in the high school track I’m in and the reason why I’m thriving. Thanks guys, you saved my ass. I would have probably ended up going down a really bad road if I’d stayed.
Same here. We moved and I had to start a new school where I was bullied so badly that I wanted to kill myself. Just couldn't figure out how. My parents felt helpless, but my mom's boss found out and pointed her in the direction of Catholic school even though we weren't of that faith. It was 3 weeks into the school year and all the schools were full. Mom called the only school left to call, explained the situation. I was welcomed there and years later I realized that school was full. Sr. Elizabeth accepted me anyway. She made room for me. She saved my life.Consequences: Met my best friend there and we are celebrating a friendship going strong since 1970. Because of an after-school volunteer program I participated in I made my career decision of being a nurse, and so on and so on to the life I have lived full of butterfly effects.🦋
Load More Replies... Was looking for a job. Saw the girl behind the counter of a store I never go to smiling and laughing with a customer. Decided to apply, got the job, became bffs with the girl. Started hanging out with her friends who were from another state I'd never been to (we were all away from home at college at the time.) After graduation, I moved to the other state, married one of her friends, had twins. My parents even moved to be close to us. 20 years of happiness because I saw a cashier smile.
I joined a forum 8 years ago. Tried my hardest to socialise but the connections I made always ended up breaking. After about six months I wasn't visiting too much and I definitely wasn't trying to talk privately to anyone, I'd sort of burnt out on the 'dealing with people' thing. On one of my infrequent visits, I made a snarky reply to someone in a thread (I was in a bad mood). That person replied, so I replied, so they replied, etc. Seven years later they're my best friend, they've supported me in a way I've never been supported before, and they've probably saved my life on multiple occasions.
My grandfather was in the Army Air Forces (late 1940's). He was scheduled to fly over the Panama Canal. My grandfather had flown on this route multiple times. Bot one of the guys in his squadron had not. He asked my grandfather of he could take his place on the flight, to which my grandfather agreed. That plane hit some mountains, and everyone on that flight perished. Had my grandfather been on that flight, he would have never been a father to 7 kids, grandfather to 8 grandkids, and 17 great grandchildren. I talked to about it some time ago. I was the only one who he actually talked to about this...he had tremendous survivors guilt. As bad as I feel for the families of the other members, I told my Grandpa I was thankful it wasn't him on that plane. After all, we have a huge, close knit, supportive family. And we would have never been here had he not given up his seat.
One night a friend talked me into trying a pain pill called opana. I slowly got addicted to it, ended up in an abusive relationship, lost all of my money and savings, dropped out of college, overall screwed my life up. I slowly got clean and reconnected with an old friend in rehab, we started dating, had a kid and now we are living happily ever after. We’ve both been clean and sober for almost 5 years. Even though I hit rock bottom and went through hell for a couple years I wouldn’t have met my boyfriend and ended up where I am if that hadn’t happened.
I grew up with undiagnosed ADD and anxiety and was terrible about keeping track of paperwork and getting stuff done on time. Went to get my class schedule for the next semester approved late, and my undergraduate faculty advisor was off on some union-organizing crusade, so I went to the department chair, a senile old man who lost his doctorate for embezzlement. When the faculty advisor got back, he was livid -- a giant of a man screaming his lungs out -- that I had faked the chair's signature, because he had left instructions with the chair NOT to sign anyone's paperwork. "NOBODY GOES AROUND ME, YOU LITTLE PUNK!!!" Whether because of senility or fear of this guy beating the s--t out of him, the chair denied having seen me... until I showed him his own signature on his own paperwork I just happened to be able to find, even though I had known of no need why I should keep it once the registrar approved. Kept me from being expelled.
My grandparents were (and still are) horrible people. From the age of 3, my mom was forced to do all the household chores. Her two younger siblings, a sister and a brother, didn't have to do squat. My grandma sat on her fat [redacted] all day, making her oldest do all the work, forcing her to cook, clean, iron, do the laundry and watch her siblings. She was lonely and unloved. This led to her getting pregnant at 15, just so she could have somebody to love her. At 19, she went to college and met this dude. She was obsessed about her son, and this endeared her to the guy she had met. They got married by the end of their first school year, and along came a daughter just a few months later. They have 8 more kids now, with Number 11 coming later this year. They've been married a long time, and still going strong.
Had a full ride to play college baseball...was too depressed and sat home for a year doing nothing...I think about that choice all the time.
Accept it. Learn to get help for depression and take the steps you can handle. Going to Uni on a scholarship and being depressed wouldn’t have worked. You want medical help with that.
Load More Replies... When I was 19, I was dating a military guy from a nearby army base. He was sweet, but there was something off about the way his roommate acted around me. When I tried to surprise visit him, he wasn't in the barracks. His roommate then tells me "He has a fiance at home in NJ." On a rampage, I track him down to the local dance club on the base. Civilians need military escort to get in. When I approached the line and told the guys there why I was in line, one of them offered to escort me in. I did not find the AH cheater, but I did get the phone number of the soldier that helped me into the club. I've now been married to that soldier for 30 years.
My biggest one of late was deciding to jump on the opportunity when it came up to finally tell the woman I love how I felt about her. I had prepared for rejection and the end of our friendship. I had hoped for acceptance and a new chapter in our lives. What I got was the latter, plus an unexpected surprise in the form of recovering lost childhood memories and remembering that I'm actually a girl. Definitely not something I would have predicted would happen before I decided to tell her that I felt that we really were life partners. Definitely not going to complain since it's been the happiest time of my life ever since, though!
Sorry, I'm confused by "remembering you're actually a girl"?
Load More Replies... I decided to join a club at school in 6th grade even though it was already halfway through the year. If I hadn't joined I wouldn't have become friends with my best friend right now. I don't know if I would have been able to make it through quarantine without being able to contact her. (She was my only friend with a phone at the time and Covid was really hard on me emotionally.)
