What One Event Changed Your Life?

I would have been buried in sadness (and probably dead too) if the internet hadn't happened. :lol:

 

As cheesy as this is going to sound (though i really dont care)... I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for my girlfriend. Wait! Don't judge me! let me explain!! Whenever i was depressed, going through hard times, trying to find myself- she was always consistantly there for me. If i didnt have such love and support from her- I know for a fact that I would have overdosed and killed myself a while ago. She keeps me sane. I love you, Molly! <3333

 

This is weird, but...

If I hadn't flunked out of that fancy, private college, I wouldn't be studying something I'm passionate about, working toward a career I will love or with the woman I love.

 

If I hadn't moved house, a lot of things right now wouldn't exist.

The act itself isn't significant, but rather, what followed. Had I not moved house, several key events which help change me would never have happened. In fact, you can trace a LOT of what happens in my day-to-day life back to that one event.

 

9/11

Lost a loved one.

 

Well... this is going to be weird...

I got into a facebook argument with my former youth minster (who also happens to be my second cousin). My friend, We'll call her Kyle, posted a video that she had made for government class. I saw that the youth minister (and some other members of my former church) had posted negative comments. I didn't even think twice, I posted a comment on the video. Well, a large facebook argument happens and in the end my youth minister leaves this comment.

"thats it use your journalistc abilities to figure out what you believe and why. When you dig this out for yourself then you will be your own person. Investigate. You go!"

The only problem now is that I did what he said... and he is not going to like the results.

If this whole episode did not happen... I probably would still be in a deep depression over my sexuality. That day, I realized that I am me and nobody can change that. That was the beginning of me accepting who I am.

The only problem now is that I did what he said... and he is not going to like the results.

 

Probably getting accepted to the college I attended. It was most lovely.

 

i would say between the moment i started interacting with my peers which was in the single digits and the moment i realized that i was gay. either way, those moments pretty much shaped the person i am now. it's crazy when you shape yourself around the people that you have to deal with in order to survive dealing with them. the latter moment actually has to do ending up in a situation where i was interacting with my peers where it was just a storm of negativity. i wasn't going to go through that situation again because i knew that that was what was going to happen had i decided to accept it and flaunt it around. i wasn't trying to get beat up or anything like that again.

 

failing to kill myself

 

Oct 1 2011....my dad dying right in the kitchen in front of my own eyes.

 

I'd have to say the biggest pivotal turning point in my life was coming out for the first time.

I had read a romantic short story (that seemed to grow into a novella) online. It was a gay romance story between two teenage boys, and I was either seventeen about to turn eighteen or had not long turned eighteen at the time. I was suffering from extremely bad depression.

I don't really know what compelled me to reach out to the author, I was just in a really dark place in my life and desperately needed to know that I wasn't alone. I had never knowingly spoken to another gay person in my entire life (I grew up in a very small rural town). He turned out to be in his late sixties and still in the closet like me. He was in the process of coming out.

We communicated back and forth for months on pretty much a daily basis. He became a sort of long distance surrogate father, and just - well he basically just listened. I poured my heart out to him, and he sympathized and listened. He told me things that I desperately needed to hear; that I was normal, that I wasn't a bad person, that things were going to be okay and that my life would get better.

He never asked anything of me, except to not make the mistake that he had made in waiting until his late sixties to begin living authentically.

Simply reaching out to him helped me with my depression. Unfortunately, I lost touch with him. He's probably in his late 70's or early 80's by now. I don't know where he is, I don't even remember the name of the story, but I hope he is doing well... and if he's dead, I hope he found some happiness before the end. He probably saved my life.

 

Getting a job when I was 15.

It sounds silly compared to some of the other answers, but it truly has changed my life. I can't not have a job now, for one. I put myself in this cycle of money where if I didn't have a job, I'd be lost. The second reason is that I met some of the most amazing people (and arguably some of the worst), and learned a lot about my future... I know that I'm not gonna get along with everyone I work with and that's okay.

King x

 

if my sister hadn't died, i wouldn't have tried to kill myself. if i hadn't met julia, i would have killed myself.LOVE YOU BOTH! )=(

 

I wouldn't be as resilient as I am today if I never was raped.

 

My parents' divorce. I'm far more outgoing and confident now that I'm not living with [one of them]

 

I wouldn't be happy/confident/comfortable in my own skin if I hadn't chosen to go where I did for college. I could have gone to a cheaper school, but I would be sacrificing quality of life and quality of education. I could have gone to a smaller school, but then I'd have just been nursing my own introversion and insecurities.

 

I think the one thing that has changed my life the most dramatically was meeting my mentor last December. He's taught me literally everything he knows, introduced to me so many people, showed me so many things, and he's dating my best friend now. Before I met him I was seriously starting to question whether I really wanted to go into criminal justice and law enforcement or not, but he challenged me, and continues to challenge me, and I know I can handle it now, and I feel so safe and ready to take on anything because of him.

 

I don't think I've been the same since my grandmother died 11 years ago.

 

Coming out, but not for the obvious reasons.

Retrospectively, I think it was not necessarily the best thing to do at the time. As I've mentioned in other threads, I also came out about wanting to run off with some Internet friends to go camping in California. This led my mother to think I was "sneaking around" and keeping things from her. Coming out sort of fueled my depression that I'm still battling to this day over a year later.

It's basically the only regret I have in life. Not coming out, I don't regret that, but not being more steadfast in my choices and being more willing to stand up for myself. I should have gone to California, but by doing so I would have had nothing to come home too.

I also think (I know, I'm breaking the rules by having 2 events, but I'm a selfish prick so it's okay) that my step-father has shaped my life drastically. He's a horrible person, but my 15 year battle with him has taught me so much. His impact on me (combined with that of my biological father) has also been a huge influence on my depression, which ultimately influences my life.