The one moment that might have changed your life direction

[GlitterUnicornsAndAllThatJazz]

I'm sure we all have one.

A moment we think back to and made a decision - maybe it seemed full of meaning then or maybe it seemed insignificant at the time.

But you can't help but look back on that moment as the moment when things were to go one way or another.

Mine:

There was a huge complicated backstory to my relationship with this man.

We were in the south of france at the time. That afternoon a decade ago now he asked me to go with him to biarritz that same night. I only had a few hours to think and I chose not to.

I wonder just how different things would be if I'd said yes, for better or worse.

I've had loads of 'alternate lived', at least seven. I sometimes play let's pretend but I know I did what was right for me at the time and that's the really important thing. You didn't want to go, so you didn't...

Messaging my now Partner on a dating sight

My life has changed completely.....
In every single way! Not just the fact im not single anymore

I sometimes wonder where I'd be if I'd not left my old job over a decade ago.
I turned down a promotion, and a pay rise to make me stay but I left. Met my husband at my new job, moved in together within a year, now been married for 7 years and have a toddler.

Is not a decision I regret or anything..... just a wondering.

"You are one decision away from a totally different life" is one of my favourite quotes

Xx

Having my kids is the biggest one. I wasn’t in a relationship. What if i’d bottled it and decided to wait etc.

Several moments...
I couldn't be bothered to go out clubbing one night at uni but didn't want to waste the ticket money. Met DH that night
When I moved into student halls, my dad chose to drive one way and we got stuck in traffic in a tunnel for 45mins. Your room was allocated randomly on arrival. I always wonder how different my uni experience would have been if I'd arrived earlier and lived with different people.

Deciding not to go on a year long trip at the last minute. because I met someone. We are no longer together but I do sometimes wonder what my life would have been if I'd gotten on that plane.

Similar to Happies. Left my job, started a new job, met my now DH there who had also just started. That was 25 years ago. I have sometimes wondered how life would have panned out if I had stayed in the first job. Or if I hadn't made a move on him. Would he have made the first move?

Probably when my ex decided that I had to make a decision NOW (we'd been "together" less than 48h) whether this was a "serious" relationship or not. I thought WTF... and said yeah okay, thinking let's give this a go - if I'd said no, you're crazy, my life could have gone very differently. (It wasn't a good relationship. Everything has been harder probably as a direct result.)

Maybe another one when I decided at the last minute not to go to an exam because I hadn't revised as much as I should and my childcare was sick and I felt bad for relying on her. I decided to take the resits but then forgot to go. So I would have had to redo the whole year. As a result I don't even have one year's worth of degree study, even though I completed the whole two years (part time, adds up to one). Stupid.

More recently if I'd been more picky about a driving school rather than taking the first one I found. Wasted a huge amount of money and totally lost an opportunity at work.

Actually I feel like my whole life is pretty much a series of poor decisions. I'm just extraordinarily lucky to make up for it and hence seem to be doing okay considering.

I always wonder where I'd be if I hadn't dropped out of college when I was 19. My dh worked for this company at the time where 90% of the graduates of my course ended up working. We met eventually 8 years later! I wonder if we had worked together then would we have ended up together.

Something quite small: when I was living in France, a lovely guy asked me out and I stood him up. I know, I’m a bitch. I wonder if I’d gone out with him, would it have been a big romance, would I have ended up staying in France? I was always tempted.

Deciding to go to uni at 21years old. (parents couldn't afford it but I got the student loan and worked through uni), got a decent career and met my dh at uni. Had a fun filled 10years with dh before we settled down, married and have kids. If I hadn't gone I would be working in a pub or factory with no prospects and no adventure, no dh.

A decision that was out of my hands...

My first boyfriend, my first love leaving me at 17 and moving miles away.

I sometimes wonder what would of happened if he hadn’t left me. I adored him.

I have had many adventures and up and downs since then, and now have a dh and dd.
Strangely enough, about 5 years after he dumped me, he saw me and dh across the road in my hometown, then messaged me for a chat... and said he got it wrong all those years ago. Too little, too late, really.

I had a torrid fling with a work colleague and got pregnant. He froze me out instantly and left his job, never to be seen again

I lost the baby weeks later and in a fit of grief / relief, walked in to flight centre and booked a ticket to Australia. My now DP and I flew to Australia on the same day. That was 10 years ago and we've not lost pled back.

If I'd been able to take my friend's advice and split up with the man who became my husband, with Bipolar 1, gave me ptsd, now separated leaving me with a suicidal dd.

BUT I wouldn't have my brilliant kids.

I’ve just had one!

Just turned down a job which involved a big move. DH was up for it so could have done it. I think it was right to say no but I think I’ll always wonder...

Making the decision of which of two job interviews to attend. They were on the same day but 50 miles apart. I went to one and got the job. A year later I met dh who was a friend of someone I worked with.

Fucking up a dream job interview. Different industry, different city now. Married to someone I met here.

Alternatively, being in the same room as someone who I met again later in life (more than 20 years later) and who I wish every day that I had spoken to when I first met them.

Having my first child at 27 weeks

So many sad, happy and wild things came out of that terrifying moment

It was out of my hands, my df suffered life changing injuries in a car crash and my life changed forever (giving up uni and a career) to be his carer. My life has been on a downward spiral ever since

Making by the decision to leave my home town at 19 and follow my parents to the city!

They left after 6 months but I stayed! I now have wonderful dp and ds, I was so close to not moving with my parents that I'm so thankful I did

I answered his call and took him back into my house and my life. Ten years later, I ran with nothing but a bag of clothes to a women's refuge. I wonder how different my life would have been if I'd been strong enough not to answer.

I did choose to follow DH to live abroad instead of staying in the UK and finishing my degree, working in a shop on Saturdays. That was probably the right decision because our lives are much better here and I think I would have seriously struggled to continue to cope on my own.

I had been single a couple of years. I went with my folks to an am dram production and the flyer said they were looking for new members. My mum kept on at me to go as I'd liked drama at school.

I said I'd go to keep her quiet, especially as the night for new members was when my folks were away. I thought I'd blag it, say I went but it wasn't for me.

At the last minute I thought 'sod it. What's to lose?'

I ended up meeting some great new friends, having lots of fun and meeting DH.

Messaging what transpired to be my future husband on a dating site. He's done so much over the years to chill me out and build up my confidence and I wouldn't be who I am now without him.

Also, applying for my first role with my current employers. I'd been languishing in a professional cup de sac for years, feeling like I'd under achieved in life and was miserable as a result. My employers are far from perfect but I am now finally doing something I am passionate about and am good at, I have prospects here, I've been promoted and am making decent money finally.

Those two things have made the biggest difference to my life and changed me for the better.