What small decision changed the course of your entire life?

[justanothermanicmonday1]

Lighthearted.

Mines was just getting out of a relationship, being in my thirties and thinking I'd never ever meet anyone. I'd got used to the fact that I wouldn't likely have children, and be alone. And I was fine with that.

4 weeks after I ended my relationship, my friend asked if I wanted to be set up on a date with her friends friend. I was extremely reluctant.....

3 years later we have a toddler and a newborn and it was the best decision I have ever made in my entire life. I didn't think I would ever be this lucky. He treats me how I deserve to be treated, hands on, funny, respectful, romantic & the best role model for our children!

Intrigued to hear people's stories whilst my newborn sleeps away..... 🥹

My kids got me into playing a video game with them, they eventually got bored of it and moved on but I was hooked. So I put out a forum post out asking if any other mums played and wanted to team up. That was 6 years ago and a handful of us are friends for life, we still play several times a week and meet up when we can.

Going on my first girls holiday abroad without my parents at 18. Met a guy who worked a few miles away from my house.

We've been together for 24yrs, married with 2 kids.

Ahhhh the halcyon days of Twitter. I miss them

The car was having a service so I had to catch the bus to visit my home town.
The bus was due to leave at 11.10 am.
There was a Greggs at the station and I was hungry but I was um-ing and aah-ing if I should buy a baguette there or when I got home as there was a Greggs there, too.

I decided to wait. So on arrival I visited Greggs and bought a ham and cheese roll.

I sat on a bench in the High Street and my ex walked past. He stopped to say hello, he was as good-looking as ever. We went for a coffee. It transpired he was rarely in the area. So had I not bought that roll I'd never have seen him again.
Ever.

We grew close again and he turned out to be much nicer than before in every way.

A huge mistake in my life. Nice as he was, there were still issues. You can never go back.

I rue the day I bought that bloody roll in Greggs in my home town and not the bus station.

Interesting that nearly all the posts in this thread are ‘how I met my partner’ rather than ‘a random thing led me to having an amazing career’.

There are quite a few career stories too (my own included)

However, careers often tend to be more planned and rationally mapped out and weighed up, whereas relationship decisions tend to be emotionally led so I really don't think the balance of posts is surprising. Aren't most relationships started by some chance encounter? I know far fewer people whose careers started like that.

Saying no to sweets. Other than that I'm usually not the person to make the decision.

I publicly (and drunkenly) dumped a guy I was initially crazy about as he told me he loved me when I confronted him about his behaviour towards me. He would stand me up. Go silent. Then reappear as if nothing had happened. When he turned up at the bar I was in I hadn't heard from him in weeks but he put his arm around me and went in for a kiss. I lost it and told him I had enough and to leave me alone. When he declared undying love for me I was apoplectic with rage. I unleashed the fury like a mad woman. I had an audience but I didn't care. The guy had a friend who I was friendly with and this guy was drinking with his older brother. (So literally a friend of a friend of a friend all connected to my guy - sorry if this is confusing 😕). Anyhoo this guy approached me and asked me out in front of my now ex guy friend. I told him to piss off as I thought he was being a tool. He swore he wasn't and said he had liked me for a long time but never did anything about it as I was always involved with someone. He wasn't my type but I thought fuck it. Why not? We moved in together within 6 weeks. We have 3 kids and have been married 20 years in January.

Attended a very small town American high school with very small town American attitudes. In Grade 11, I took a World History class with a teacher who was an older woman with a reputation for being a bit contrary, outspoken and a feminist (which was considered pretty radical). I loved her class. One day, she asked the class if anyone was interested in becoming a diplomat. I was the only one who raised my hand. She told the class "Well, Mercenary is the one with the ability to do that type of job anyway!"

Her comment made something in me click. I decided to study International Relations at university and have spent most of my adult life travelling and working all over the world, including conflict zones. I never actually became a diplomat, but have held a number of fascinating jobs and love my career.

A few years ago, I heard that she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. I wrote her a long letter, telling her what an inspiration and a positive influence she was for me. I'm glad I had the opportunity to thank her. I'm not sure where I would have ended up without her.

They are I suppose but I guess they're important to people.

Some of them aren't really small, trivial decisions where the outcome could not be reasonably predicted to have any consequence, either.

For example, losing your temper with your boyfriend may very well lead to a break up.

Going out may very well mean meeting someone.

Some of them are very sad like the poster using the camcorder, or recording equipment, no way could they have predicted the consequences.

Going to a dinner party that I really didn’t want to go to. I’d just moved house and was knackered. Met a guy, had two children and an engagement .

9 year on I’m a single parent, stressed to the point of being physically unwell and would do anything not to have met him and endured the abuse. Don’t regret the children but regret their father.

A more positive one would seeing a job I liked the look of and not having the confidence to apply. On the last day to apply I had a rotten day at work and applied on a whim. Regretted it straight away but ended up with the job! It was double my salary and started me on a career path I never thought I was capable off.

Everyone at my workplace had to attend a week-long residential training course. Only one could go at a time so it was going to take a year before we'd all attended.

One colleague became ill on the Friday before the Monday he was due to go on the course and my supervisor asked if I would like to go instead.

I had to make a small decision there and then.

I decided to take his place and go.

On the course I met the man who was to completely destroy my life and almost destroyed me. He was a confidence trickster, a stealthy criminal with a respectable outward appearance, a covert narcissist and a violent woman-beater. He tricked me into his confidence, I ended up selling my home, moving town, moving job etc to be with him, and my entire life turned into a nightmare. It took me 5 years to get free of him and I had lost over £50,000.

Omg @SayYourWorst

I went to eat a great McDonald's at the retail park not in the town despite being in the town centre

Went into the shop at the retail park.

Applied for the job at the shop- met DH and had 2 wonderful boys

I met a guy online and we went on a date. I thought he was nice but not my type. I was going to cancel our second date but changed my mind at the last minute. Eighteen months later we were married! Have been happily married for 11 years now. We met just when I was giving up hope of ever meeting a good decent man.

Almost everyone is enjoying this thread as far as I can see. Is it other people's happiness that annoys some?

Saying ‘yes’ to a work-sponsored introductory counselling skills course. Got the bug. I’m now a therapist. I’m not sure I’d ever have discovered the ‘right’ job for me had I not said ‘why not?’

I went to some random careers talk at school. I was a bit down about choosing accounting as a degree because I'd accepted I was too squeamish for medicine which I'd really wanted to do. I thought I wasn't good enough at public speaking to be a lawyer and it was reputed to be hard to get jobs without some family connections. I thought accounting was the steady safe option. But the local university person at this talk told us about a joint law and accounting degree. I ended up as a lawyer and have spent over 30 years in practice. I have an accounting degree too but still hate it. Thirty minutes changed the trajectory of my life. I can't quite understand why they came to talk to us at all as the school was working class and a bit rough, we had a tiny 7th form and our school's academic standards were on the pitiful side and not many were expected to go university. But whoever arranged that talk changed my life. (My son fulfilled the medicine dream - he took after his non-squeamish dad.)

Had a conversation with a neighbour when my kids were toddlers about a new music centre that had opened up in an old children's library. Took them along to see what it was all about - remember it was a real faff getting them anywhere at that age and I so easily could have not bothered with the hassle. But they really took to it and are fantastic musicians now. It's brought so much into their lives and ours over the years - friendships, so many different skills, exposure to loads of different kids of music and inspiring people, trips etc