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<p>Most of our lives are shaped by small seemingly invisible forces. Each decision we make sets off a course of small consequences, for better or worse, and the domino effect of defining moments can move so rapidly it&#39;s hard to pin down our &quot;fork in the road&quot; moments.</p><p>Still, there are some moments that stand out obviously as a turning point for our perspective or circumstances, and it can be clarifying to look back on them and how far we&#39;ve come.</p><h2>In <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/nkmp62/what_was_that_specific_moment_that_completely/" target="_blank">a popular Reddit thread</a>, people shared specific moments that completely altered the course of their life.</h2><p>It&#39;s fascinating what can affect us.</p><h2>1. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/yellowbin74/">yellowbin74</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>When I decided that alcohol would not control my life. It cost me my girlfriend and my self respect. Started going to the gym, and swimming twice a week. It changed me in so many ways, and my body shape changed and I felt loads more confident. 9 months later I got back with my girlfriend (now wife) and we have two fantastic kids. Thank you mum for the one most important piece of advice you ever gave me x</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>2. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/LyallaTime/">LyallaTime</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>I was diagnosed with cancer at 19; I was pursuing a career in the culinary arts, loving life and all that. Now, I&rsquo;m 37, I&rsquo;ve had 8 different instances of cancer thanks to a genetic mutation that makes me randomly develop melanoma tumors.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>I&rsquo;m on disability, and cooking a single meal is exhausting most days. I&rsquo;ve spent my entire adult life focused on this battle. I gave up having children, a job, a business&mdash;but I&rsquo;m alive, so&hellip;yay?</p> </blockquote><h2>3. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/FoxOfReach/">FoxOfReach</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>I&#39;d had a huge fight with an abusive mother that had a mental breakdown (throwing stuff, calling family to say I&#39;d attacked her, screaming, hitting me etc) went to a friend&#39;s house and stayed there for a month. Experiencing that freedom and independence and seeing his life pushed me to find a way to obtain my own freedom. I&#39;m now moving into my own place next year after living in a hostel.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I distinctly remember standing on his balcony and realizing I would either die or get to where he was and I refused to go back. I regret nothing.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Edit: The hardest part about my mother is she can be so nice oftentimes. She can be loving and even self-sacrificial if it means protecting her children. But ultimately mental illness creeps in and it breaks the person you thought you knew, in her case she has diagnosed BPD that she refuses to accept as anything but a conspiracy against her. She had a hard life and I empathize with her but the toxic behaviours and learned helplessness were too much.</p> </blockquote><h2>4. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MyNameIsRay/">MyNameIsRay</a>:</h2><p> </p><blockquote> <p>I got kicked out of the house at 16, after getting kicked out of school.</p> <p>Stayed with my GF at the time, crashed on friend&#39;s couches, found a job to support myself, and during the summer my uncle let me stay in a spare bedroom so I could continue high school when it started back up.</p> <p>I soon realized how toxic my parents are, and how much better I was doing without them in my life.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>Didn&#39;t miss a day of school, became a straight-A student, blew away the SAT&#39;s, got a scholarship to college. I had so many more friends, social life blossomed, I was happy for the first time in a long time.</p> <p>Went so long without talking to or seeing my parents that my dad didn&#39;t even recognize me the next time we crossed paths.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Best thing to ever happen to me.</p> </blockquote><h2>5. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ripmerle/">ripmerle</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Losing my wife to cancer at just 53 years old. Nothing, and I mean nothing, has been the same since, and its been nearly 9 years.</p> </blockquote><h2>6. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/PollyPepperTree/">PollyPepperTree</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>The guy who walked into my psych class in college and sat in front of me. I liked everything about him but I fell in love with his hair first. Sadly his hair did not last as long as our relationship - 43 years and counting!!</p> </blockquote><h2>7. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Rusky0808/">Rusky0808</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>The day I stopped smoking weed and pulled myself together. Two years ago and my life is on another level.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>8. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/fatalbert491/">fatalbert491</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>When Pennsylvania raised the cigarette tax by almost $3 a pack. I quit that day after smoking a pack a day for over 10 years, haven&rsquo;t had one since. Only decent thing the state of Pennsylvania has ever done for me lol.</p> </blockquote><h2>9. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/cheetos2001/">cheetos2001</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>As a kid, I was really into reading books and writing stories. Whenever I&#39;d think of high school or college, it always involved me taking Eng Lit or something and being one of those literary types.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>So one day when I was 12, I was looking for something to read in my dad&#39;s study. After a lot of searching, I decided on this book called The Music of the Primes. And oh man, that book changed the direction of my life completely. As soon as I finished it, the spark had been ignited. All of a sudden, math made SENSE.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>In my free time, I started to research math formulas and experiment with them. I read about famous mathematicians and important problems in mathematics. I also got extremely interested in engineering as a whole, with my math skills powering me through subjects that I didn&#39;t like (e.g. chemistry). My good grades in math, later on, got me accepted into colleges, and here I am now, about to go for a math major in college.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>So yeah, I often wonder how different my life would&#39;ve been if that fateful day, I&#39;d just decided to pick up a different book.</p> </blockquote><h2>10. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/anonymous-sparkle/">anonymous-sparkle</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>The day I took some cocaine that was clearly not cocaine. It was awful I didn&#39;t sleep for 3 days was incredibly ill and depressed, only one eye dilated so I was convinced I&#39;d given myself brain injury. It was terrifying but I never took hard drugs again and I believe that day is the reason I&#39;m not a junkie now. Instead, I have a great boyfriend, lovely house and job I enjoy.</p> </blockquote><h2>11. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/p38-lightning/">p38-lightning</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Stopped by a jewelry store to get a watch battery installed and recognized the sales clerk as a co-worker from a theme park summer job. She didn&#39;t remember me, but we struck up a nice conversation which led to lunch, then dinner - and eventually 38 years of marriage.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>12. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/kgabny/">kgabny</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>I was born and raised in Los Angeles. For the first eleven/twelve years of my life, nothing of note happened; LA is known for clear sunny skies all year round.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>But it was after I finished elementary school, during the summer, I was in the living room watching TV when I suddenly heard a loud noise. Like a boom, coming from outside. I turned around towards the backyard and all I could see was white rain. It was over within a few minutes, but it was the first time I saw anything like that, and it was completely alien to me. Once it was done, the ground had white patches. I went outside to see what it was, and it was little balls of ice (I started to wonder if that is what snow looked like). I then looked up and saw a dark cloud moving away, in the direction of the front of the house.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>So, I ran from the backyard to the front yard, and saw a textbook thunderstorm for the first time in my life. From that point one, I wanted to study weather.</p> <p>Now, 20 years later, I have a BS in Meteorology and considering going for my masters to give myself a leg up to get into the field as a profession. I knew my college major from 6th grade onward, and knew what I wanted to do with my life.</p> </blockquote><h2>13. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/mazzimar7/">mazzimar7</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Getting dumped out of nowhere.</p> <p>Three year relationship, lived together for the last 2. He came home one day and said it was over and I was blindsided because things were strong and not moving in that direction from my perspective.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>After a bit of depression and soul searching, I ditched my job in insurance and started a completely new career as a cook, bought a condo, and now I&#39;m living in a mountain town and enjoying life.</p> <p>Not the way I would have chosen things to go down, but I&#39;m happy with the results.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>14. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Cheese_BasedLifeform/">Cheese_BasedLifeform</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>For me, it was deciding not to delete Tinder for one more day back in 2018. If I had deleted it the day I planned to, I never would have received the message from the man who is now my husband. I wouldn&rsquo;t even know he existed. Because of that decision, I am the happiest I have ever been in my life.</p> </blockquote><h2>15. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/CourageOfOthers/">CourageOfOthers</a>:</h2><p> </p><blockquote> <p>I&rsquo;ve had a ton of the big ones. Meeting my wife, having kids, the choices I made with my career. But they&rsquo;re all a little, well, dull and obvious perhaps.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>When I look back at smaller things that dramatically changed my life, it&rsquo;s stuff like meeting the kids from two doors down when I was 8. They were football crazy, and my family wasn&rsquo;t at all. I wanted to fit in with them and be friends so badly that I started joining in with them. And from that grew a lifetime joy of sport. So much of my free time became dedicated to it, and it was that first meeting that changed it all</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I traveled when I was 21, post-university. I was still quite a sensitive soul, lacking in confidence. But I met and traveled with 2 girls that changed my life. I&rsquo;d never met anyone so utterly comfortable with who they were, their bodies, their flaws etc. I can&rsquo;t explain, nor recommend it, but for example, if I woke up with a spot, I&rsquo;d be greeted with an absolutely delighted &lsquo; WHAT THE F*CK IS THAT ON YOUR FACE&rsquo;. I&rsquo;d be ribbed about it and then they&rsquo;d be sharing stories about the worst spots they&rsquo;d ever had. All the self-consciousness gradually melted away from me because nothing was off-limits. Nothing mattered. Nothing changed how well we got on. I feel like it was that meeting that turned me into more of an adult.</p> </blockquote><h2>16. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/glory87/">glory87</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>It sounds so silly, but I was in a Babbage&rsquo;s and picked up a computer game with a beautiful elf princess on the box. I ended up playing pretty seriously, running a much beloved class message board, being asked by the development company to participate in several panels, met a game designer at one of those events, moved to San Diego, married the game designer, had a child. Thank you, Everquest.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>17. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/DeffectiveNecessary/">DeffectiveNecessary</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>A conversation with my girlfriend at the time after a date talking about school. She came from a difficult background and told me about how she had managed to pay her way through college by working multiple jobs and pull a near-perfect GPA. I had been a mediocre student in high school and It made me think &ldquo;I really have no excuse.&rdquo; she inspired me to be a good student and set high goals and now, 4 years later, I graduated summa cum laude and got accepted into MIT for my masters. Oh, and by the way, we got married and she still inspires me :)</p> </blockquote><h2>18. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Omneorift/">Omneorift</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>The first time I dropped acid. It made me take a few steps back and look at the bigger picture of my life, and allowed me to analyze my past, present, and future behaviors. I almost entirely lost my ego that night, as well as any desires to continue &quot;partying until I die.&quot; I stopped doing hard drugs after that and began picking up the pieces to the life I almost completely wasted.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>19. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/sethbob86/">sethbob86</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>I went to see the movie &quot;40-year-old Virgin&quot; at the theater.</p> <p>That movie was about me. I worked at circuit city, he worked at circuit city. I rode my bike to work, he rode his bike to work. I collected action figures and painted models, he did too. I had never had a girlfriend, neither had he. I was awkward around girls and he was too. I wasn&rsquo;t 40 but I didn&rsquo;t want to be like him.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>I went home and immediately packed up most action figures and sold them. I ripped the dragon posters off the wall and trashed them. I made it a goal to at least talk to some girls and try to ask them out. Within 2-3 weeks I had gone on a date or two. It still took a few years but after about 3-4 years I ended up with the woman I&rsquo;d go on to marry and have kids with.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>20. From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Dyemond/">Dyemond</a>:</h2><blockquote> <p>Broke my leg, pelvis, arm, and collar bone in a motorcycle accident. Forced me to leave construction and cabling work and go learn computers. Turned a $16k a year salary into a six figure income.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

20 people share a specific moment that changed the course of their life.

Most of our lives are shaped by small seemingly invisible forces. Each decision we make sets off a course of small consequences, for better or worse, and the domino effect of defining moments can move so rapidly it&#39;s hard to pin down our &quot;fork in the road&quot; moments.Still, there are some moments that stand out obviously as a turning point for our perspective or circumstances, and it can be clarifying to look back on them and how far we&#39;ve come.In a popular Reddit thread, people shared specific moments that completely altered the course of their life.It&#39;s fascinating what can affect us.1. From yellowbin74: When I decided that alcohol would not control my life. It cost me my girlfriend and my self respect. Started going to the gym, and swimming twice a week. It changed me in so many ways, and my body shape changed and I felt loads more confident. 9 months later I got back with my girlfriend (now wife) and we have two fantastic kids. Thank you mum for the one most important piece of advice you ever gave me x 2. From LyallaTime: I was diagnosed with cancer at 19; I was pursuing a career in the culinary arts, loving life and all that. Now, I&rsquo;m 37, I&rsquo;ve had 8 different instances of cancer thanks to a genetic mutation that makes me randomly develop melanoma tumors.  I&rsquo;m on disability, and cooking a single meal is exhausting most days. I&rsquo;ve spent my entire adult life focused on this battle. I gave up having children, a job, a business&mdash;but I&rsquo;m alive, so&hellip;yay? 3. From FoxOfReach: I&#39;d had a huge fight with an abusive mother that had a mental breakdown (throwing stuff, calling family to say I&#39;d attacked her, screaming, hitting me etc) went to a friend&#39;s house and stayed there for a month. Experiencing that freedom and independence and seeing his life pushed me to find a way to obtain my own freedom. I&#39;m now moving into my own place next year after living in a hostel.  I distinctly remember standing on his balcony and realizing I would either die or get to where he was and I refused to go back. I regret nothing.  Edit: The hardest part about my mother is she can be so nice oftentimes. She can be loving and even self-sacrificial if it means protecting her children. But ultimately mental illness creeps in and it breaks the person you thought you knew, in her case she has diagnosed BPD that she refuses to accept as anything but a conspiracy against her. She had a hard life and I empathize with her but the toxic behaviours and learned helplessness were too much. 4. From MyNameIsRay:  I got kicked out of the house at 16, after getting kicked out of school. Stayed with my GF at the time, crashed on friend&#39;s couches, found a job to support myself, and during the summer my uncle let me stay in a spare bedroom so I could continue high school when it started back up. I soon realized how toxic my parents are, and how much better I was doing without them in my life.  Didn&#39;t miss a day of school, became a straight-A student, blew away the SAT&#39;s, got a scholarship to college. I had so many more friends, social life blossomed, I was happy for the first time in a long time. Went so long without talking to or seeing my parents that my dad didn&#39;t even recognize me the next time we crossed paths.  Best thing to ever happen to me. 5. From ripmerle: Losing my wife to cancer at just 53 years old. Nothing, and I mean nothing, has been the same since, and its been nearly 9 years. 6. From PollyPepperTree: The guy who walked into my psych class in college and sat in front of me. I liked everything about him but I fell in love with his hair first. Sadly his hair did not last as long as our relationship - 43 years and counting!! 7. From Rusky0808: The day I stopped smoking weed and pulled myself together. Two years ago and my life is on another level. 8. From fatalbert491: When Pennsylvania raised the cigarette tax by almost $3 a pack. I quit that day after smoking a pack a day for over 10 years, haven&rsquo;t had one since. Only decent thing the state of Pennsylvania has ever done for me lol. 9. From cheetos2001: As a kid, I was really into reading books and writing stories. Whenever I&#39;d think of high school or college, it always involved me taking Eng Lit or something and being one of those literary types.  So one day when I was 12, I was looking for something to read in my dad&#39;s study. After a lot of searching, I decided on this book called The Music of the Primes. And oh man, that book changed the direction of my life completely. As soon as I finished it, the spark had been ignited. All of a sudden, math made SENSE.  In my free time, I started to research math formulas and experiment with them. I read about famous mathematicians and important problems in mathematics. I also got extremely interested in engineering as a whole, with my math skills powering me through subjects that I didn&#39;t like (e.g. chemistry). My good grades in math, later on, got me accepted into colleges, and here I am now, about to go for a math major in college.  So yeah, I often wonder how different my life would&#39;ve been if that fateful day, I&#39;d just decided to pick up a different book. 10. From anonymous-sparkle: The day I took some cocaine that was clearly not cocaine. It was awful I didn&#39;t sleep for 3 days was incredibly ill and depressed, only one eye dilated so I was convinced I&#39;d given myself brain injury. It was terrifying but I never took hard drugs again and I believe that day is the reason I&#39;m not a junkie now. Instead, I have a great boyfriend, lovely house and job I enjoy. 11. From p38-lightning: Stopped by a jewelry store to get a watch battery installed and recognized the sales clerk as a co-worker from a theme park summer job. She didn&#39;t remember me, but we struck up a nice conversation which led to lunch, then dinner - and eventually 38 years of marriage. 12. From kgabny: I was born and raised in Los Angeles. For the first eleven/twelve years of my life, nothing of note happened; LA is known for clear sunny skies all year round.  But it was after I finished elementary school, during the summer, I was in the living room watching TV when I suddenly heard a loud noise. Like a boom, coming from outside. I turned around towards the backyard and all I could see was white rain. It was over within a few minutes, but it was the first time I saw anything like that, and it was completely alien to me. Once it was done, the ground had white patches. I went outside to see what it was, and it was little balls of ice (I started to wonder if that is what snow looked like). I then looked up and saw a dark cloud moving away, in the direction of the front of the house.  So, I ran from the backyard to the front yard, and saw a textbook thunderstorm for the first time in my life. From that point one, I wanted to study weather. Now, 20 years later, I have a BS in Meteorology and considering going for my masters to give myself a leg up to get into the field as a profession. I knew my college major from 6th grade onward, and knew what I wanted to do with my life. 13. From mazzimar7: Getting dumped out of nowhere. Three year relationship, lived together for the last 2. He came home one day and said it was over and I was blindsided because things were strong and not moving in that direction from my perspective.  After a bit of depression and soul searching, I ditched my job in insurance and started a completely new career as a cook, bought a condo, and now I&#39;m living in a mountain town and enjoying life. Not the way I would have chosen things to go down, but I&#39;m happy with the results. 14. From Cheese_BasedLifeform: For me, it was deciding not to delete Tinder for one more day back in 2018. If I had deleted it the day I planned to, I never would have received the message from the man who is now my husband. I wouldn&rsquo;t even know he existed. Because of that decision, I am the happiest I have ever been in my life. 15. From CourageOfOthers:  I&rsquo;ve had a ton of the big ones. Meeting my wife, having kids, the choices I made with my career. But they&rsquo;re all a little, well, dull and obvious perhaps.  When I look back at smaller things that dramatically changed my life, it&rsquo;s stuff like meeting the kids from two doors down when I was 8. They were football crazy, and my family wasn&rsquo;t at all. I wanted to fit in with them and be friends so badly that I started joining in with them. And from that grew a lifetime joy of sport. So much of my free time became dedicated to it, and it was that first meeting that changed it all  I traveled when I was 21, post-university. I was still quite a sensitive soul, lacking in confidence. But I met and traveled with 2 girls that changed my life. I&rsquo;d never met anyone so utterly comfortable with who they were, their bodies, their flaws etc. I can&rsquo;t explain, nor recommend it, but for example, if I woke up with a spot, I&rsquo;d be greeted with an absolutely delighted &lsquo; WHAT THE F*CK IS THAT ON YOUR FACE&rsquo;. I&rsquo;d be ribbed about it and then they&rsquo;d be sharing stories about the worst spots they&rsquo;d ever had. All the self-consciousness gradually melted away from me because nothing was off-limits. Nothing mattered. Nothing changed how well we got on. I feel like it was that meeting that turned me into more of an adult. 16. From glory87: It sounds so silly, but I was in a Babbage&rsquo;s and picked up a computer game with a beautiful elf princess on the box. I ended up playing pretty seriously, running a much beloved class message board, being asked by the development company to participate in several panels, met a game designer at one of those events, moved to San Diego, married the game designer, had a child. Thank you, Everquest. 17. From DeffectiveNecessary: A conversation with my girlfriend at the time after a date talking about school. She came from a difficult background and told me about how she had managed to pay her way through college by working multiple jobs and pull a near-perfect GPA. I had been a mediocre student in high school and It made me think &ldquo;I really have no excuse.&rdquo; she inspired me to be a good student and set high goals and now, 4 years later, I graduated summa cum laude and got accepted into MIT for my masters. Oh, and by the way, we got married and she still inspires me :) 18. From Omneorift: The first time I dropped acid. It made me take a few steps back and look at the bigger picture of my life, and allowed me to analyze my past, present, and future behaviors. I almost entirely lost my ego that night, as well as any desires to continue &quot;partying until I die.&quot; I stopped doing hard drugs after that and began picking up the pieces to the life I almost completely wasted. 19. From sethbob86: I went to see the movie &quot;40-year-old Virgin&quot; at the theater. That movie was about me. I worked at circuit city, he worked at circuit city. I rode my bike to work, he rode his bike to work. I collected action figures and painted models, he did too. I had never had a girlfriend, neither had he. I was awkward around girls and he was too. I wasn&rsquo;t 40 but I didn&rsquo;t want to be like him.  I went home and immediately packed up most action figures and sold them. I ripped the dragon posters off the wall and trashed them. I made it a goal to at least talk to some girls and try to ask them out. Within 2-3 weeks I had gone on a date or two. It still took a few years but after about 3-4 years I ended up with the woman I&rsquo;d go on to marry and have kids with. 20. From Dyemond: Broke my leg, pelvis, arm, and collar bone in a motorcycle accident. Forced me to leave construction and cabling work and go learn computers. Turned a $16k a year salary into a six figure income. 