A canon event is a transformative moment that redefines you as a person. It can range from heartbreak to triumph—the loss of a loved one, a promise to get sober, or landing a dream job. Reddit user MisterBigDude asked the platform to share what divided their lives into a clear "before" and "after."
The answers painted a vivid spectrum of human experience, showing that we're both similar and different, each on our own path. We never truly know what lies ahead and must keep learning and striving. It sounds banal, but what is there to guide us through the ups and downs if not perseverance?
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#21
Lots of them but covid is the biggest. Before covid, my commute to work was over an hour. Now i work from home.
46points
#22
Senior year of high school.
Nobody cares about what happened to me, but I will be brief and say it dramatically scarred me. I have not been the same man since, I have not forgiven the perpetrators, and I will definitely say that it is the “before” and “after” Time of my life, between being happy and be miserable.
Nobody cares about what happened to me, but I will be brief and say it dramatically scarred me. I have not been the same man since, I have not forgiven the perpetrators, and I will definitely say that it is the “before” and “after” Time of my life, between being happy and be miserable.
43points
#23
Carjacked at gunpoint - within six months I left my dead end job and got out of a loveless marriage. Life's too short.
42points
#25
The Navy. I was 19 and a dumb when I joined. I was 40 and a different kind of dumb when I left.
40points
#26
My cancer diagnosis.
37points
#27
When my life completely imploded and in the span of 3 months I went from married with a cool job to separated, jobless, homeless, with skin cancer. Everything changed and I’m NOT that guy I was before that time.
36points
#28
An autoimmune disease. An incurable debilitating disease. I was 32.
35points
#29
Having kids. It's such a change from being a 20 something to be responsible for someone else that is so helpless.
31points
#30
Breakdown caused by OCD in 2021 that left me actively planning my end. Almost went through with it but my parents surprised me with a puppy, and that puppy saved my life. In a much better, stable place now with that puppy still by my side, but I’ll never be the same ever again. No one really tells you that - that you might survive the attempt (or near attempt) but something in you ***still*** dies, and that part of you is just carried with you for the rest of your time, like a scar on your heart (or brain, whatever).
20points
