Butterfly Effect

<p>As human beings we tend to obsess over the &quot;big&quot; life decisions we make, like who we should marry and what career path to choose. But more often it&#39;s the small and minor decisions we make that have the greatest impact our lives, and other people&#39;s lives as well.</p><h2>Someone <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jzfe7v/whats_the_craziest_butterfly_effect_that_happened/" target="_blank">asked</a> Reddit: &quot;What&#39;s the craziest butterfly effect that happened to you because of a small decision you made?&quot;</h2><h2>These 20 people share stories of the relatively minor decisions they made that ended up having huge, life-changing consequences:</h2><p>1.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/rleash/">rleash</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>The first day I ever signed up for internet back in 1999, I installed mIRC (because it was on the starter disk my ISP gave me) and joined a random chat room. Over the course of the next year the &ldquo;regulars&rdquo; in that room became like family to me. We would talk about everything. All that practice made me a fast typist and WAY better communicator than I was before that. They would even help me when I had trouble understanding something in my college classes. I also met my husband in that room, and we&rsquo;ve been happily married for 18 years. Others from our little IRC family are married, too, and we still keep in touch. All because I randomly chose THAT chat room that day.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>2.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/yellowhorseNOT/">yellowhorseNOT</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>In Afghanistan, wasnt done with my coffee, so I passed on a trip from one base to another (there was another convoy a few hours later). Most everyone died who took the 1st convoy. My 2nd cup of coffee wasnt even cold when I found out.</p> </blockquote><p>3.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/wonderingdrew/">wonderingdrew</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I was given two start dates for an entry level job in a large organisation.</p> <p>The date I choose to start led to working in a small but high profile team so I got lots of exposure with senior management and I became the can-do-guy who&#39;d fix a million tiny problems. That recognition led to promotions, a fantastic career, further professional qualifications and working overseas for several years. I also met my best friend and my partner.</p> <p>If I&#39;d chosen the other date I&#39;d have been sent to a data processing pool and been fairly anonymous.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>4.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/groundedcloudhead/">groundedcloudhead</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Made a last minute decision to go to a friend&#39;s divorce party and met my wife</p> </blockquote><p>5.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/induceddaftfan/">induceddaftfan</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>My parents dream was to have a &quot;famous child&quot;. When my older sister&#39;s figure skating career ended in her early twenties, the spotlight shifted to me. I was a fine oboist, and took private voice lessons with intent to audition for the local music faculty (opera?). In any case, there was a lot of pressure, and while I was successful at school and classical music, it was never enough.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>At 17, before senior year began, my sister gifted me a kitten. My parents had given her 2 in her senior year and the implication was that it was my turn. When my sister dropped me off, my parents locked me out, saying that if i wanted my own pet I needed my own place. So I found one - that night. I worked 3 jobs to support myself through senior year and graduated with entrance scholarships to both of the local universities.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I couldnt afford a music degree while living on my own, even with the entrance scholarships. And good thing. Entering the work force showed me how much I love active jobs. 3 years later, I enrolled in college and became an industrial mechanic/millwright, to my parents great shame.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>After a few years of this I landed a sweet contract where I work on Saturdays and Sundays but receive a full week&#39;s pay. Although I am a living beacon of disappointment, I comfort myself with my 100k a year job, 2 day workweek, and 2 cats.</p> <p>Being kicked out over a kitten saved me from wasting years chasing an improbable career just to please my parents.</p> </blockquote><p>6.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/robotmonkeyshark/">robotmonkeyshark</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>At a university career fair and just has a long day taking to companies and heading out when I see a Honda booth. Designing cars would be awesome but there is a huge line, it has been a long day, and what are the chances? But wait! They are giving away hats and shirts and model cars! So I talk to them. A day later I get a callback for an online assessment. I fill that out and don&rsquo;t hear anything back for a month or so, the I get a call one night saying I was an alternate and someone cancelled last minute so they want to fly me up for on-site interviews.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I go and end up getting and accepting an offer. After graduation I move about 1000 miles away from home for my new job where a few years after I meet my now wife and we have 2 kids. I never would have crossed paths with her otherwise. So the entire course of my life was shifted because Honda gave away good swag at their career fair booth.</p> </blockquote><p>7.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/35mmPirate/">35mmPirate</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>My wife got an email from her old colleagues the day we returned home from our honeymoon, asking if she wanted to star in a short film they were doing for fun. She said sure, and asked if I could come along, as she knew I had an interest in movies, but at the time I worked in life insurance and was miserable.</p> <p>It was more than an interest- I had always wanted to make films, but never made the right connections with people and didn&rsquo;t know where to start.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I made friends with the producer of that short film my wife was in, and 11 years later filmmaking and video production is my career. I&rsquo;ve shot feature films, short films, video for tv and web, and all over the world because of that one email to my wife. Changed our lives!</p> <p>Oh, and that original short film never got finished lol</p> </blockquote><p>8.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/discostud1515/">discostud1515</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Was going to carpool with my aunt to a family gathering. At the last minute I decided to go by myself so I could leave early if I wanted. It was a ways out of town and I didn&rsquo;t want to be stuck there. On the way there she drove off the road into a ditch. She was ok but the passenger side of her car was totally smashed in.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>9.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Nematobrycon/">Nematobrycon</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I chose to rearrange the sequence of classes slightly before starting my education. By doing this, I had to commute to a different branch of the school in a different town than the one I was originally signed up for. On my first day there, I helped a girl who had managed to break both of her arms in a drunken shopping cart accident, I learned later. This girl, whom I would absolutely never have met had I not changed my classes around, is my wife through 14 years.</p> </blockquote><p>10.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/davevillafuckyeah/">davevillafuckyeah</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I finished working half an hour earlier and I was sent home by my boss, an old friend, on holyday in our hometown, texted me out of the blue and asked me if I could pick up her American friend because she could not make it in time and I was the only one who spoke English. Took a shower, shaved my head, picked her up, and 10 months later I married her.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>11.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Spiritual_Jaguar4685/">Spiritual_Jaguar4685</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I was always super flirty with the girl from HR, but we were always seeing other people / don&#39;t date at work so when she left the company I was bummed. A year or two later a coworker asked me to search my email archives (that was a thing back then) for something he needed. I ended up stumbling across the &quot;farewell to my work-friends&quot; email from HR girl and she sent it from her personal email address. I reached out to her, we had coffee, then a date, then many dates, then I love yous and I put a ring on it ASAP.</p> <p>12 years later, extremely happily married, 2 goofy kids, 2 evil cats, and she still puts up with my bullshit.<button></button></p> </blockquote><p>12.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/kimar2/">kimar2</a>:</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>The other day I was driving home from work, traffic was light and I was behind a car with a numberplate that started &quot;KFD&quot;. Decided to duck through KFC drive thru for chippies with extra salt as a little treat to myself.</p> <p>They took forever to bring them out and by the time they finally did (all told about 10 minutes later), traffic has slowed to a complete halt.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>I need to get over a bridge that&#39;s normally six lanes which has now been reduced to one. Turns out it&#39;s due to a massive collision involving several cars. When I finally get to the point where I&#39;m driving past, I notice the numberplate on one of the cars, that same KFD numberplate.</p> <p>If I hadn&#39;t stopped to get hot chips I&#39;m fairly sure I&#39;d have been in a major collision.</p> </blockquote><p>13.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/the5thbeagle/">the5thbeagle</a>:</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>Out of university, looking for a job and exhausting all the online resources. On a whim, I looked in the career section in a print newspaper that was lying around in the house. (We never subscribed to that paper, I dont know why it was even there).</p> <p>Got the job in a different city, met someone who is now one of my best friends, who introduced me to their friends, who introduced me to their friends and so on, until I was eventually introduced to my wife. If I&#39;d found a job where I actually planned on working, there is absolutely no way I would have crossed paths with any of these people.</p> </blockquote><p>14.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Andromeda321/">Andromeda321</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>When I was in 8th grade (13 years old) I had a really long bus ride home so would pass the time by reading. One day I faced the very serious situation of nothing to read and a minute to grab something in the library, and for whatever reason I grabbed a book on astronomy. That book was amazing and grabbed me like nothing else had before. I remember being excited to realize every astronomer on Earth was 13 years old once too, and that was a career you could actually <em>do</em>, even if you were from Pittsburgh.</p> <p>Anyway, today I am a professional astronomer who studies gigantic space explosions for a living. There was a lot of work to get from that moment to this one, but I&rsquo;m always grateful that I picked up that library book!</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>15.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/demonardvark/">demonardvark</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>My desire for pizza set off a chain reaction that destroyed my family.</p> <p>One day got home from school and really wanted pizza. family was poor so spontaneous food trips weren&#39;t always in the cards. Really worked my pouty face to my mom and begged to go to the local pizza place for dinner. She said alright. While chilling there I saw my uncle walk by, and I was like &quot;da fuck, uncle X is that you?&quot;. Now you might say well he wanted pizza what&#39;s the big deal? well he lived several states away so to arbitrarily be in town and not tell anyone was strange.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Turned out he was having an affair with his sister in law my aunt on the other side of the family. She was basically a money grubbing whore and the family protested. One thing led to another and everyone hates each other now and we haven&#39;t had contact in like 20 years.</p> <p>I just wanted some pizza :(</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>16.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/lucyken/">lucyken</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>At 15 I decided to stay home to play a soccer match rather than go babysit for my aunt and uncle. As a result my uncle went out alone, took a shortcut home, fell in to a river and drowned.</p> </blockquote><p>17.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Naganofagano/">Naganofagano</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>My husband- He found out after 18 years that his moms side of the family was Spanish, not Mexican. He found this interesting and changed his country to &ldquo;Spain&rdquo; on MySpace instead the US where he really was. Meanwhile in Australia, I was helping my friend find Spanish people to add as a friend as she was learning the language. I came across my now husband and decided to send him a friend request as well. We got along really well and met in person after 3 years. Have been together 11 years, married for 7. If he didn&rsquo;t change his country to Spain (and only for a day or so) we&rsquo;d never know each other existed.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>18.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/someregulardouche/">someregulardouche</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>there was this rainy day that flooded a small piece on the street on the way to my now ex gf house. she had to stay over the night.</p> <p>now I&#39;m someones father.</p> </blockquote><p>19.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/NotDaWaed/">NotDaWaed</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>2 years ago I was in a hospital for a week due to acne and was extremely bored (the Wi-Fi was slow), so I asked my mom to bring me a sketchbook and pencils so I could draw.</p> <p>I am now starting a career as an artist/animator.</p> </blockquote><p>20.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Generic-Online-User/">Generic-Online-User</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>4 years ago a kid I barely knew from school invited me to a six flags. I was a bit of a loner at the time and I heard rumors about this kid being weird, so I intended to not go.</p> <p>On the day he wanted me to go, I was feeling extra bored and decided on a whim &ldquo;why not?&rdquo;. So I went and met this kid and two of his friends I&rsquo;ve never met at a six flags.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>4 years later and that kid is my best friend, and I have 3 other very close friends I met through him. Not only that, but I also met my first girlfriend because of the connections some of my new friends had. It transformed my high school years from being alone to having an amazing group of friends I could do almost anything with.</p> <p>I intended to ask my best friend to be my best man one day, and I don&rsquo;t intend on ever getting out of touch with any of them. I&rsquo;m home from college now, and we are going to have a lot of fun together. Best decision I&rsquo;ve ever made.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

20 people share the small decisions they made that ended up having life-changing consequences.

As human beings we tend to obsess over the &quot;big&quot; life decisions we make, like who we should marry and what career path to choose. But more often it&#39;s the small and minor decisions we make that have the greatest impact our lives, and other people&#39;s lives as well.Someone asked Reddit: &quot;What&#39;s the craziest butterfly effect that happened to you because of a small decision you made?&quot;These 20 people share stories of the relatively minor decisions they made that ended up having huge, life-changing consequences:1.) From rleash: The first day I ever signed up for internet back in 1999, I installed mIRC (because it was on the starter disk my ISP gave me) and joined a random chat room. Over the course of the next year the &ldquo;regulars&rdquo; in that room became like family to me. We would talk about everything. All that practice made me a fast typist and WAY better communicator than I was before that. They would even help me when I had trouble understanding something in my college classes. I also met my husband in that room, and we&rsquo;ve been happily married for 18 years. Others from our little IRC family are married, too, and we still keep in touch. All because I randomly chose THAT chat room that day. 2.) From yellowhorseNOT: In Afghanistan, wasnt done with my coffee, so I passed on a trip from one base to another (there was another convoy a few hours later). Most everyone died who took the 1st convoy. My 2nd cup of coffee wasnt even cold when I found out. 3.) From wonderingdrew: I was given two start dates for an entry level job in a large organisation. The date I choose to start led to working in a small but high profile team so I got lots of exposure with senior management and I became the can-do-guy who&#39;d fix a million tiny problems. That recognition led to promotions, a fantastic career, further professional qualifications and working overseas for several years. I also met my best friend and my partner. If I&#39;d chosen the other date I&#39;d have been sent to a data processing pool and been fairly anonymous. 4.) From groundedcloudhead: Made a last minute decision to go to a friend&#39;s divorce party and met my wife 5.) From induceddaftfan: My parents dream was to have a &quot;famous child&quot;. When my older sister&#39;s figure skating career ended in her early twenties, the spotlight shifted to me. I was a fine oboist, and took private voice lessons with intent to audition for the local music faculty (opera?). In any case, there was a lot of pressure, and while I was successful at school and classical music, it was never enough.  At 17, before senior year began, my sister gifted me a kitten. My parents had given her 2 in her senior year and the implication was that it was my turn. When my sister dropped me off, my parents locked me out, saying that if i wanted my own pet I needed my own place. So I found one - that night. I worked 3 jobs to support myself through senior year and graduated with entrance scholarships to both of the local universities.  I couldnt afford a music degree while living on my own, even with the entrance scholarships. And good thing. Entering the work force showed me how much I love active jobs. 3 years later, I enrolled in college and became an industrial mechanic/millwright, to my parents great shame.  After a few years of this I landed a sweet contract where I work on Saturdays and Sundays but receive a full week&#39;s pay. Although I am a living beacon of disappointment, I comfort myself with my 100k a year job, 2 day workweek, and 2 cats. Being kicked out over a kitten saved me from wasting years chasing an improbable career just to please my parents. 6.) From robotmonkeyshark: At a university career fair and just has a long day taking to companies and heading out when I see a Honda booth. Designing cars would be awesome but there is a huge line, it has been a long day, and what are the chances? But wait! They are giving away hats and shirts and model cars! So I talk to them. A day later I get a callback for an online assessment. I fill that out and don&rsquo;t hear anything back for a month or so, the I get a call one night saying I was an alternate and someone cancelled last minute so they want to fly me up for on-site interviews.  I go and end up getting and accepting an offer. After graduation I move about 1000 miles away from home for my new job where a few years after I meet my now wife and we have 2 kids. I never would have crossed paths with her otherwise. So the entire course of my life was shifted because Honda gave away good swag at their career fair booth. 7.) From 35mmPirate: My wife got an email from her old colleagues the day we returned home from our honeymoon, asking if she wanted to star in a short film they were doing for fun. She said sure, and asked if I could come along, as she knew I had an interest in movies, but at the time I worked in life insurance and was miserable. It was more than an interest- I had always wanted to make films, but never made the right connections with people and didn&rsquo;t know where to start.  I made friends with the producer of that short film my wife was in, and 11 years later filmmaking and video production is my career. I&rsquo;ve shot feature films, short films, video for tv and web, and all over the world because of that one email to my wife. Changed our lives! Oh, and that original short film never got finished lol 8.) From discostud1515: Was going to carpool with my aunt to a family gathering. At the last minute I decided to go by myself so I could leave early if I wanted. It was a ways out of town and I didn&rsquo;t want to be stuck there. On the way there she drove off the road into a ditch. She was ok but the passenger side of her car was totally smashed in. 9.) From Nematobrycon: I chose to rearrange the sequence of classes slightly before starting my education. By doing this, I had to commute to a different branch of the school in a different town than the one I was originally signed up for. On my first day there, I helped a girl who had managed to break both of her arms in a drunken shopping cart accident, I learned later. This girl, whom I would absolutely never have met had I not changed my classes around, is my wife through 14 years. 10.) From davevillafuckyeah: I finished working half an hour earlier and I was sent home by my boss, an old friend, on holyday in our hometown, texted me out of the blue and asked me if I could pick up her American friend because she could not make it in time and I was the only one who spoke English. Took a shower, shaved my head, picked her up, and 10 months later I married her. 11.) From Spiritual_Jaguar4685: I was always super flirty with the girl from HR, but we were always seeing other people / don&#39;t date at work so when she left the company I was bummed. A year or two later a coworker asked me to search my email archives (that was a thing back then) for something he needed. I ended up stumbling across the &quot;farewell to my work-friends&quot; email from HR girl and she sent it from her personal email address. I reached out to her, we had coffee, then a date, then many dates, then I love yous and I put a ring on it ASAP. 12 years later, extremely happily married, 2 goofy kids, 2 evil cats, and she still puts up with my bullshit. 12.) From kimar2: The other day I was driving home from work, traffic was light and I was behind a car with a numberplate that started &quot;KFD&quot;. Decided to duck through KFC drive thru for chippies with extra salt as a little treat to myself. They took forever to bring them out and by the time they finally did (all told about 10 minutes later), traffic has slowed to a complete halt.  I need to get over a bridge that&#39;s normally six lanes which has now been reduced to one. Turns out it&#39;s due to a massive collision involving several cars. When I finally get to the point where I&#39;m driving past, I notice the numberplate on one of the cars, that same KFD numberplate. If I hadn&#39;t stopped to get hot chips I&#39;m fairly sure I&#39;d have been in a major collision. 13.) From the5thbeagle: Out of university, looking for a job and exhausting all the online resources. On a whim, I looked in the career section in a print newspaper that was lying around in the house. (We never subscribed to that paper, I dont know why it was even there). Got the job in a different city, met someone who is now one of my best friends, who introduced me to their friends, who introduced me to their friends and so on, until I was eventually introduced to my wife. If I&#39;d found a job where I actually planned on working, there is absolutely no way I would have crossed paths with any of these people. 14.) From Andromeda321: When I was in 8th grade (13 years old) I had a really long bus ride home so would pass the time by reading. One day I faced the very serious situation of nothing to read and a minute to grab something in the library, and for whatever reason I grabbed a book on astronomy. That book was amazing and grabbed me like nothing else had before. I remember being excited to realize every astronomer on Earth was 13 years old once too, and that was a career you could actually do, even if you were from Pittsburgh. Anyway, today I am a professional astronomer who studies gigantic space explosions for a living. There was a lot of work to get from that moment to this one, but I&rsquo;m always grateful that I picked up that library book! 15.) From demonardvark: My desire for pizza set off a chain reaction that destroyed my family. One day got home from school and really wanted pizza. family was poor so spontaneous food trips weren&#39;t always in the cards. Really worked my pouty face to my mom and begged to go to the local pizza place for dinner. She said alright. While chilling there I saw my uncle walk by, and I was like &quot;da fuck, uncle X is that you?&quot;. Now you might say well he wanted pizza what&#39;s the big deal? well he lived several states away so to arbitrarily be in town and not tell anyone was strange.  Turned out he was having an affair with his sister in law my aunt on the other side of the family. She was basically a money grubbing whore and the family protested. One thing led to another and everyone hates each other now and we haven&#39;t had contact in like 20 years. I just wanted some pizza :( 16.) From lucyken: At 15 I decided to stay home to play a soccer match rather than go babysit for my aunt and uncle. As a result my uncle went out alone, took a shortcut home, fell in to a river and drowned. 17.) From Naganofagano: My husband- He found out after 18 years that his moms side of the family was Spanish, not Mexican. He found this interesting and changed his country to &ldquo;Spain&rdquo; on MySpace instead the US where he really was. Meanwhile in Australia, I was helping my friend find Spanish people to add as a friend as she was learning the language. I came across my now husband and decided to send him a friend request as well. We got along really well and met in person after 3 years. Have been together 11 years, married for 7. If he didn&rsquo;t change his country to Spain (and only for a day or so) we&rsquo;d never know each other existed. 18.) From someregulardouche: there was this rainy day that flooded a small piece on the street on the way to my now ex gf house. she had to stay over the night. now I&#39;m someones father. 19.) From NotDaWaed: 2 years ago I was in a hospital for a week due to acne and was extremely bored (the Wi-Fi was slow), so I asked my mom to bring me a sketchbook and pencils so I could draw. I am now starting a career as an artist/animator. 20.) From Generic-Online-User: 4 years ago a kid I barely knew from school invited me to a six flags. I was a bit of a loner at the time and I heard rumors about this kid being weird, so I intended to not go. On the day he wanted me to go, I was feeling extra bored and decided on a whim &ldquo;why not?&rdquo;. So I went and met this kid and two of his friends I&rsquo;ve never met at a six flags.  4 years later and that kid is my best friend, and I have 3 other very close friends I met through him. Not only that, but I also met my first girlfriend because of the connections some of my new friends had. It transformed my high school years from being alone to having an amazing group of friends I could do almost anything with. I intended to ask my best friend to be my best man one day, and I don&rsquo;t intend on ever getting out of touch with any of them. I&rsquo;m home from college now, and we are going to have a lot of fun together. Best decision I&rsquo;ve ever made. 

As human beings we tend to obsess over the &quot;big&quot; life decisions we make, like who we should marry and what career path to choose. But more often it&#39;s the small and minor decisions we make that have the greatest impact our...