30 People Share Cases Of The "Butterfly Effect" Happening In Real Life

It's super weird to think about things like that,,, For me:

my sister introduced me to a game as a kid -> i searched the game on google years later -> vaguely related google image introduced me to a different game -> i joined a forum for that game -> the people there introduced me to tumblr -> i met my ex on tumblr -> my ex introduced me to twitter -> i later joined a huge friend group on twitter.

Years later a horrific tragedy happened in my life and I became homeless. Some people in that friend group gave me temporary shelter and without them I would have literally died.

If even one step of that hadn't played out the way it did, I would straight up be dead. A google image search in ~2009 saved my life (in some sense) in 2014. Wild.

Was paying off a second hand bike, decided to cancel, owner gave my money back, took the money and bought a second hand PC on gumtree by an ametuer technician but great programmer.

Told him he good do better with sales and building and showed him how.

We started hanging out.

Now we running a small company he started He owns 80% i own 20% (since majority of the money is his) i help out with sales and technical builds.

Last year we met middle year and ended the year with 150,000 turnover and 4000 in profit (not a lot but we throw 100% back in business) the first month of Jan 2020 we made over 10k in profit.

Business is booming.

Man, some days it seems like my entire life is a series of butterfly effects of different sizes.

Story 1. I was online one night a few years ago, reading the news. I saw a sidebar ad for a show I had never heard of...Canada's smartest person. They were casting. I was having a few drinks at the time, and thought to myself "you're kind of smart, you should apply...it looks like fun." So i went to the casting website and applied. I didn't think any more of it or tell my family...until they called me asking for an interview. Whenever they called I was always at work (I'm a mechanic) and usually thinking work thoughts so whenever they called it never really hit me until after the work day was over. So long and the short of it was I ended up on the show. Did pretty well, but the kicker for me was a free week in toronto, staying in a hotel i could never afford.

Story 2: moving to yellowknife led me to a ridiculous career change i never would have thought about. So i met my now wife on eharmony, and we decided to move to yellowknife, in the north west territories. This was a long-a*s drive, so basically when we got there my car needed an oil change and a tire rotation. This was over a hundred bucks, which was a small fortune to me at the time. So the next time I needed to do it I borrowed some garage space from a friend and some tools and did it myself. It took over an hour, but i had a blast...so much so that i decided to go back to school and do a trade.

Story 3: Story 2 and 3 are kind of related. In January of last year I was on facebook and saw a friend post an ad for a teaching position at the local high school. I had always had an interest in the idea of teaching. I liked helping apprentices under me. I always enjoyed sharing my knowledge of the trade with anyone. But I dont have an education degree or anything like that. So i applied, basically for a laugh, and wound up getting the job. I've now been teaching for just over a year, and am taking online courses toward my BEd. So yeah. My life is a series of butterfly effects.

On a side note, this has been a really s****y week for me...but typing out these stories gives me perspective about how blessed I really am. Thanks, OP.

My best friend and I were going to get breakfast and then ride to an event together one morning. She was running late, so we decided to meet at the diner and drive separately instead of meeting at my house and leaving her car there. After breakfast, I got in a wreck and the seat where she would have been sitting if she had ridden with me was totally smashed. She would have died if she had been on time for breakfast.

That same wreck caused me to miss an important deadline. I was planning to move out of state, but was injured in the accident and ended up staying put for several more months to recover. While I was recovering, I started dating a guy. If I'd moved as I had planned to before the accident, we might never have started dating. He ended up being really bad for me, but when we broke up, my rebound guy ended up being a real winner. We've been married for 13 years and have two amazing children.

I was working at a fitness center in highschool and a regular had a heart attack on a row machine. Luckily I was nearby and there also was an AED machine just as close. 911 was called while I got this man all prepped for a good shocking. It did its magic but did not revive him enough for my comfort. Not a good look for him as the ambulance arrived and carted out this fella in a coma. I stress for about 4 days until his son comes in and lets me know he is awake. Loaded up with a pace maker, the gym regular is ticking again. I was delighted and even more joyful to give him a hug a few weeks later when he started walking laps again.

Fast forward a few years and I am in my early twenties. I'm hammered drunk from the bar and trying to get more drunk at a keg party nearby. I'm burning redlights like no ones business in a smaller/suburbanite area. My 50cc moped is topped out and flying around for a few miles. Woop, woop that's the sound of the police! I'm instantly thrown in hand cuffs by two officers and placed on the curb. Another police cruiser arrives and the two original officers get in their cruiser and leave. I'm wigging out sitting in these cuffs wondering what the f**k is going on.

Oh s**t, I recognize you... it is the gym regular's son again in his police uniform. He let's me know that I'm an idiot, duh. Everyone can guess how the story goes though. "This is your get out of jail free card. Lock up your moped and go home." That saved my future undoubtedly. Not only did I avoid the DUI but I had enough party favors in my seat to go to big boy jail for a long time.

That was the best trade I have ever made in my life. You never really know how or when your actions from the past will change your future. Be good, do good, feel good.

TLDR: Saved a guys life, got too drunk, his son saved mine, now we are even.

I was in the fifth year of my art high school here in Italy. I was an ok student, mediocre grades that could have easily allowed me to pass and get it over with school forever. But in february, I just said "f**k it". No reason whatsoever. I just suddenly and completely lost my will to study and get good grades and I just let it happen. Of course, they failed me, so I had to repeat the year.
Instant regret as soon as I found myself in a classroom full of people I didn't know and felt so f*****g alone.
But a very nice girl in the class invited me to a sleepover at her place with other 3 friends.
One of the friends was a beautiful girl that I caught staring at me multiple times during the evening, and when we got a little drunk she rested her head on my shoulder. And just like that, I fell in love.
Now we are about to celebrate our fifth anniversary and I have the utmost certainty she is the love of my life. And none of this would've happened if that february I just kept studying and left the school.
Bless my lazy moronic past self.

Some 20 years ago the mother of friend A reads an add for a summer camp, and decides that it would be nice for friend A. Friend A likes the camp and comes back every summer.

After a year or 2 friend A invites friends B and C to come to camp that summer. They go and have a good time as well and decide to come back every year as well.

After another year friends A, B and C all had to do a year over at school en become my classmates. After a while friend A has to drop out and go to a different school. We kind of keep in touch, but not so much anymore.

Again we travel forward a year or 2 and friend B, C and I (ie myself, not friend I ;) ) plan on having a holiday together. We decide to go the summer camp with the 3 of us.

We have a great time and the following year we decide to go again. And by sheer coincidence friend A is there in the same week friend B, C and I are there. Again we have a great time and it's nice to see friend A again.

The following year I turned 18 and was too old to go to camp. Friends A, B and C all became camp counsellors. Good for them, but not something I considered. However, that year the camp has a shortage of counsellors and my friends tell the organisation to give me a call.

They convince me to become a counsellor for that year. Of course I had a great time en decided to come back the following year.

When I return the following year, there is a girl in our team that draws my attention. I'm always the last of the team to go to bed. And as the week progresses, the girl stays up later and later. Then one night, we are the only two left.
We kiss, get married 10 years later and still are happily married!

TLDR: 20 years ago my friends mom saw an advertisement, without which I would have never met my wife!

This girl that I had a crush on posted in a Facebook group for buy/sell/trade in a small college community about looking for a boyfriend. It was deleted in less than 5 minutes by the admins for being against the rules.

I saw her post in those 5 minutes. I messaged her. We started dating, fell in love immediately. We moved across the country together.

Over 6 years later I’m still living in the state we moved to together, even though we broke up a year after arriving. I think there’s a good chance I’ll spend the rest of my life here.

But that’s not all. Because of her I got connected to another Facebook group for drug reform jobs. Through that group I found my first job in cannabis, something that’s led directly to my next 3 jobs (including my current job) and may be my entire career.

I was invited to hang out with an acquaintance who I barely knew freshmen year of high school. I wasn’t sure if I should go but decided to try it out. We had so much fun she became my best friend and it led to a regular meet ups and we both started bringing in more friends and just got bigger every month with almost thirty people who got together every weekend by senior year. Many of us are still good friends and our lives, spouses, and careers have all been shaped by this group that I honestly don’t think would have formed if I hadn’t been invited that night freshmen year.

I was at my bff for the weekend. We were still in elementary school. My parents were delayed and couldn't pick me up on time. So I went with him to a theatre rehearsal he recently started going to. BTW, my dad is a professional actor and when I was a kid I told him acting is too hard and that I'll never want to be an actor.

Well guess what. At this rehearsal, one guy couldn't come so I read his lines. The professor who lead that "theatre" liked my performance and invited me to come again. Do I did. And I liked it. Few years later I decide to draft for the Secondary school where the rehearsals are held, became one of the most influential people at that school, learned a lot about acting, technical stuff in theatres, got many important business connections, made that school a new website and all of that allowed me to get into this faculty I'm currently at. All of those connections are very important and useful to me and I'm only begining to build my career. My story isn't over yet, but I'm guessing there's something big waiting for me.