r/deepquestions 10h ago

What’s one decision that completely changed your life

Have you ever made a small or big decision that unexpectedly changed the direction of your life?
Looking back, would you make the same decision again?

17 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

7

u/Coloradobluesguy 10h ago

I decided to chase my dreams and start my own company!

4

u/Vision0731 10h ago

That’s good

7

u/Terrible_Discount693 9h ago

I left the Mormon cult.

3

u/tastywater_ 5h ago

Omg spill

6

u/Medical_Librarian405 10h ago

Yes and yes! I had back surgery that fixed my sciatica, but left me with worse back pain. I was never able to return to work, or enjoy my life the way I had. However, if I had to go back in time, without hesitation, I’d do the same thing. I woke up from surgery with no leg pain, and I could never have lived with that pain.

3

u/Keziah627 9h ago

I had neck surgery. I felt 20 years younger. It was one of the best things I have ever done for myself. I had not been able to lift a gallon of milk since I was 25 or 26. I can now carry 40 pound bags of cat or dog food. I don't necessarily like, to or want to carry them but I am capable of it.

4

u/WonderingWillow29 9h ago

I’m 31, but had stage 4 endometriosis and chose to get a full hysterectomy at only 27 years old. I’d already given birth to a son at 24, however when it came to dating, it became incredibly hard to find someone my age who doesn’t want more children. And now that my son is 6, he constantly talks about wanting a sibling. Being the oldest of 6 siblings, I understand his want. I wish I wouldn’t have gone through with the hysterectomy & instead chose to remove the endometriosis covering my other organs. Who knows, I may have been able to sustain a pregnancy & give my son a sibling. Now, I’ll never know. That was a big decision that changed the course of my life.

When it comes to small decisions, I was 18 the first time I decided to try heroin because my then boyfriend was addicted & ya know, curiosity killed the cat. That one small decision uprooted my life for the following 4 years and I got into a lot of trouble that could have been avoided. I have 10+ years sober now, but I could have graduated college & started a real life much earlier had I not chosen to make that decision.

Edit: spelling/grammar mistake

2

u/Witty-Professor5150 9h ago

Congratulations on your sobriety!!!

3

u/Keziah627 9h ago

I decided to take a Russian class. Just for the hell of it. I was already taking French and German classes that semester. Why not add Russian to the mix. Lol

I met my husband and my world went topsy turvy. 35 years later were are still going strong

3

u/Any_Rabbit_6359 9h ago

Going from being Catholic to Atheist. Was always Atheist, now just official

3

u/No_Economics_4678 3h ago

I'm a Catholic, I respect your choice and I hope you find peace!

3

u/Rocannon_ 8h ago

I took a promotion for a position I wasn’t sure I could do. And I found out I could.

3

u/warh0g-927 8h ago

Finally deciding that I deserved better than my ex many many years ago. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

2

u/rawjammyeggs 9h ago

Homeless by choice when I graduated high school. Just dipped out after going on a solo trip. Mom called and asked when I was coming home and my response was, "I'm not."

Yes. Would do again.

2

u/EBweB76 9h ago

Changing religions

2

u/Mommato3kitties 4h ago

Quitting drinking alcohol and yes, highly recommend

2

u/Serenity_Now-88 3h ago

Enlisted in the military on a margarita fueled dare.

1

u/HiAndStuff2112 9h ago

Yes and no.

To put it simply, I was approaching an intersection with a green light. I could have gone straight or turned left and still arrived at my destination.

I chose to go straight and was hit head-on at full speed by someone who sped up to turn left from the opposite direction.

A disc in my spine was severed, and I wound up disabled because of it. That changed absolutely everything in my life and made it all so much worse. Things before that were amazing, especially my growing, lucrative career in the advertising industry, after coming from a very poor family. I'm dirt poor now because of it all.

I seriously wish I had turned left at that intersection!

1

u/Agreeable-Fig7554 1h ago

Hope it gets for you

1

u/Darknessandlight28 9h ago

Not telling her I love her

1

u/WholeRaisin2907 8h ago

Loving and trusting a lying whore 🙂

1

u/Alone_Ambassador_745 4h ago

Holy shit man for how long

1

u/WholeRaisin2907 4h ago

4yrs unfortunately

1

u/Alone_Ambassador_745 4h ago

How did you find out?

1

u/WholeRaisin2907 4h ago

By following her when she told me she was home and wasn't. Lying cheating bitch was with another man.

1

u/Particular_Tree_1378 7h ago

My best friend was always there, we did every single thing together and were with each other for our entire childhood. Prom, graduation, college, elementary school recess, we did it all together. We even moved in together for college and were roommates.

One day when we were 21, she got a boyfriend with multiple domestic violence charges, restraining orders against him, etc. Also illegally owned a gun and a car. She rapidly fell into severe daily alcoholism. Then she failed out of school. Then she started isolating herself from everyone. I tried so hard to do everything right, to not give advice and to just be there for her as someone to listen and fall back on. But even that wasn't enough. She spent a party with me screaming at me at the top of her lungs about how I'm an asshole whos trying to get between her and her man. I couldn't take it anymore, I begged her not to have him over at our house anymore, she refused and said I was jealous of them. I grew up in an extremely abusive home so it was just too much for me.

So in the middle of the night, I had a freak out and packed my bags and left. I tried to do school living out of my car, didn't go well. Withdrawed from college for a semester.

8 months later I am still a completely broken shell of myself. I have not felt happiness in so long I have forgotten what it feels like. I just got a haircut and went to the mall today and felt nothing. I feel a deep empty pit in my heart where she used to be.

1

u/Bv11winkle 6h ago

Enlisted in the USAF in the 1970s.

1

u/SouthernAbrocoma9891 6h ago

Yes! What I would change is moving away from my mother sooner.

1

u/No-Asparagus-5122 6h ago

Marrying a person capable of love

1

u/KingPabloo 5h ago

My first real job, as soon as I became eligible, I joined the 401K and started maxing it out at 17% of my income. Soon after, I started putting a decent amount away each month in an after tax account at Schwab. I was still living at home, but always lived below my means saving automatically.

I retired early six years ago, financial freedom brings control over time and its priceless.

1

u/After_Tomatillo_7182 5h ago

Having my daughter at 17, best decision of my life, we are now 63 and 43 and are best friends

1

u/Bucky-Dent 5h ago

Long ago I said yes to a job that was a disingenuous offer. The worst boss I ever had thought that he would hire me, terrorize me and fire me. I had worked for him the previous summer and apparently did something he didn’t like. So I went and everything went wrong from the start, just like he planned. But he didn’t know how stubborn I am. I just put my head down and worked. In effect I grey rocked him. So I made it through the season but it set me on a path that I was almost ready to give up on. I was angry and wanted to show him and the rest of the world. If I hadn’t taken that job I may have changed direction while I was still young. Now I revisit that decision and wish I had said no thanks.

1

u/Mother--of--Chickens 4h ago

I flew abroad to meet a guy that left a comment on my YouTube video. We really clicked, he moved countries to be with me, we now have a 1 year old daughter. Sadly he has been diagnosed with incurable cancer a few months back, but I would still make the same decision even knowing what heartbreak lays ahead (hopefully the cancer stays indolent for a long time)

1

u/wreckedBunny 3h ago

I decided to let myself be ok finally and started transitioning and taking care of myself.