50 Of The Most Insignificant Things That Shifted Realities For These People

Watching YouTube Minecraft videos. It taught me English and I ended up educating myself and escaping a toxic and abusive situation in my parents' home

Grabbed a beer instead of going home early. I got offered a job when I was struggling to find a first job

A kid's birthday party I wasn't planning to go to, I changed my mind at the last second, met my husband there.

I had a blog where I couldn’t figure out some HTML code, so I emailed the blog of another person who had figured it and they sent me the code. They lived about 1,000 miles from me and had never spoken before. Four years later we’re married, bought a house, and have a child together.

On a night out I went to burger king and at the last second decided to get chicken nuggets with my burger instead of chips. I ate the burger but didn't feel like the nuggets by this point (and wished I'd gotten chips instead) so I asked the person opposite me on the bus if he wanted them (my exact words were 'ay lad do you want my chicken nuggets') he said yes and we got talking. That was 16 years ago and now we are married with a beautiful daughter.

Went to a bonfire, met a random person who diagnosed me with a serious illness that I immediately got treated for and now I’m living life healthier, happier and more fulfilled than ever before.

On Friday 1st August 1997, I was going to go straight home from work, but a colleague talked me into going to the pub for "a quick pint"

Two hours, a couple of shared joints & 4 pints later, I got on my pushbike & made it about a quarter of the way home before coming off at the bottom of a steep hill & nearly getting killed.

I was supposed to be going on a residential course the following Monday, but I was in hospital. I had to re-book onto another sitting, five weeks later, and 300 miles away.

And that's where I met my wife - who was living overseas at the time, but by coincidence was planning to move back to where she grew up - literally walking distance from where I was living at the time.

Not only did the accident cause me to meet the woman currently sitting next to me on the sofa, but forced me to completely reassess my life. I got my drinking & drug abuse under control (and have since gone sober sober), and got me off the self-destructive path I was on.

It took a random part time job out of desperation making wooden snowboard/skateboard racks. 12 years later I’m deeply imbedded in the woodworking industry and found a career. Didn’t see that coming. 

Worked in a kindergarten during my gap years between high school and university (I didn't even plan to go at the time). A kid with speech and social issues happened to take a special liking to me, resulting in me ageeing to work closely with his speech therapist, despite only being the teachers assistant. This reignited my interest in language and made me apply to be a linguistics major. My high school grades made it a long shot, but it turns out that very year they tested out a new system of accepting 50% of students based on motivational essays, to try to combat a high drop out rate in linguistics. I made it in on that, they ditched it the next year cause it didn't work. I now have masters in Language Psychology and start teaching at the same university this semester. If I had applied literally any other year, my chances would have been like lottery odds.

Was at a conference and stepped outside for a smoke. Bumped into a friend of mine who introduced me to the man he was walking with. That man encouraged me to apply for an opening in his office and, six months later, he hired me.

It was the job that jumpstarted my career, changing my trajectory. And all because of a bad habit.

I ran to catch a train home for christmas and just caught it. Thought I saw a friend of my sister two waggons in front so I made my way through that full train and found him. He invited me to go for a beer with his friends in the new year. Out of curiosity I went and met a really cute guy in that group. I typed my number into his phone because I wanted to be obvious. That was almost ten years ago, we‘ve been married for four. It blows my mind that if I didn’t run for that train our wonderful daughter wouldn’t even exist.

Was heavily depressed for years, couldn't work, didn't dare to apply for jobs.
I wanted to make crispy pork skin roast for dinner.
Walked past a building with a little poster "We offer apprenticeships, become a geomatician!"
Googled the job, applied, got the apprenticeship.
Work offered psychological help, found a therapist, got a medication that worked.
I found a job I love and help I needed for my mental health, all because I wanted to buy some pork roast.

I stopped at a grocery store, and I saw a man standing next to his truck with a bunch of puppies. I approached him and ended up taking him my little angel of a dog. 🥹

He gave me her for free. ♡

Accepted an invite to some dudes team on Overwatch (videogame). Now I live on the opposite side of the country with him and we have two dogs and a Costco membership.

Started working at age 16. My supervisor suggested I sign up for “Profit Sharing”, a 401k precursor. Stayed with that company for 25 years, made a nice contribution to my retirement later in life.

I was flying to Costa Rica to go backpacking south from there, my sister told me to fly into Guatemala, I had to see it. So I did, and here I am still 10 years later, with a son and a life I never imagined.

2015, in Ukraine. Vinnytsia to be exact.

Went to shop to buy a bottle of water. No gas, no flavor..just a simple water bottle.

Ended up getting married with cashier who saw me a few times and was always curious to know what the f**k I'm doing in that part of the country.

Going to the gym. Now a year later my life has entirely changed. I think different, I live different, I eat different.

Scratched myself up in the field in ROTC training due to my own stupidity. **Debated whether to go to the medical tent, since it was super minor. I ultimately did**, and the cot next to me was a cadet from another school that was in a unit more in line with my career goals. The cadet got me an interview with the commander, and when I graduated and commissioned, I was assigned there. In the first few months, I met my now-wife, who was also new to the unit. Nearly two decades of marriage later, we’re both retiring and traveling the world together.

The decision to stop drinking. I wasn't addicted or anything and only drank occasionally. However, I got into a depression and a burn-out. When you are stripped of many joys in life, you automatically start seeking refuge and escape. You see how thin the line is between having a glass of wine to drinking yourself to unconciousness because the darkness is overwhelming. It would seem like the easy way out. While it didn't help me to get out of my depression in itself, I got out of it better because I stayed away from things that feed escapism.

It's better to be a recovering *depresso* without an addiction problem.