Something That Happened That Changed You Forever

jungleman

Just read a thread where the OP says that after taking a "legal high" one night, his personality changed forever, and he hasn't been able to get back to that person he used to be before he took it.

So I'm just wondering, what point was there in YOUR life that changed you forever?

Mine happened about four and a half years ago. I fluked the leaving cert, got 430 points without studying at all. Then came college, where I never went to class. I was just drinking every night, being the life and soul of the party, and an absolute waster. Fast forward three years, all of my friends had graduated, and I had failed college three years in a row.

After a couple more years of failing courses, I ended up getting a minimum wage retail job. One day my old best friend all the way from primary school through secondary school walked up to my counter. He was there with this entire family, who I knew quite well. This guy and myself, we were best friends for about 10 years, and then after school we both kind of went our separate ways and fell out of touch.

Turns out after getting 600 points in the leaving cert he studied medicine in Trinners, and was moving to Australia to work as a surgeon there! He spotted me behind the counter and came over to say hi. He asked me "what are you doing here?" and I just replied "Working. This is my job. This is what I'm doing now".

The look of sheer pity in his eyes (and his mother's, which was worse in a weird way) was the worst thing I ever felt. They just said nothing for a few seconds before the small talk started again. They weren't rude or anything, they're the nicest people in the world. They were just a bit shocked to see me in my name badge selling tat.

The next day, I applied to a course on the CAO and four years later I am a couple of months away from having a MSc. That moment of sheer pity towards me was a huge turning point in my life. The kick up the jacksie that I needed. I've never looked back since, but I've never forgotten that moment. I had no idea that pity would be the worst emotion someone could project at me.

So there's my story! Feel free to leave yours.

Birneybau

Birth. All downhill from there.

For Forks Sake

Birneybau wrote: »

Birth. All downhill from there.

You Won't Believe what Happened Next....

me_irl

Good for you...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZuhYJynSk8

MacauDragon

That's awful op. You almost ended up as a front line worker.

jungleman

jungleman wrote: »

Turns out after getting 600 points in the leaving cert he studied medicine in Trinners, and was moving to Australia to work as a surgeon there! He spotted me behind the counter and came over to say hi. He asked me "what are you doing here?" and I just replied "Working. This is my job. This is what I'm doing now".

All those points and he still couldn't figure out that the person behind the counter actually worked in the shop! It goes to show, study can't make you smart, tactful, considerate etc. etc.

Good for you that you have derived a positive from it all...but he sounds like a complete arsehole. Some close friends of mine work in shops, it's a job, who cares.

As for me, big change was the night I asked my now wife out during the slow sets in the local disco in 1991. Everything good in my life can be traced back to that decision...it was the longest of long shots at the time though...

Puberty.

The Backwards Man

I had a similar experience. Careers guidance teacher in secondary school told me I might as well go up and put my name down at the shirt factory as I'd never amount to anything.. I said fcuk you teacher, I'll go to college and show you ya bastard. And I did. Got my degree and my Masters.



And I haven't amounted to anything since.

Leogirl

Rape, MS, cancer, baby- take your pick! :-)

I'd say becoming a mum changed me more than anything but was pregnant when I got cancer so it's hard to separate the 2 just yet. Early days as a mum, still going through treatment for cancer- in a few months or years I'm sure I'll say being a mum is what changed me. Cos cancer is gone but baby is here to stay :-)

Boom_Bap

There are many things in my life that I should put down here, the birth of my children, the achievements I've picked up along the way, the incidents in my life that have changed my ways of thinking and direction.
But the one constant is the time I had a pizza with a fried egg on it. That was a game changer.

smash

Leogirl wrote: »

Rape, MS, cancer, baby- take your pick! :-)

Wow... Good to see you can still smile after that.

jungleman

Deleted User wrote: »

All those points and he still couldn't figure out that the person behind the counter actually worked in the shop! It goes to show, study can't make you smart, tactful, considerate etc. etc.

Good for you that you have derived a positive from it all...but he sounds like a complete arsehole. Some close friends of mine work in shops, it's a job, who cares.

As for me, big change was the night I asked my now wife out during the slow sets in the local disco in 1991. Everything good in my life can be traced back to that decision...it was the longest of long shots at the time though...

Yeah I didn't want the OP to come across as having a pop at retail work, or shop work. I'm unbelievably grateful for it, I wouldn't have been able to afford to return to college without it!

I think he just assumed I would have been a journalist at that stage. It's what I always wanted to be, all through school (until I did work placement where the atmosphere was toxic). So I think he was just genuinely shocked to see me standing there behind a counter!

Mister Vain

Getting high speed internet out in the bog for fhe first time. Not a single sod of turf was footed for about a month.

smash

Boom_Bap wrote: »

There are many things in my life that I should put down here, the birth of my children, the achievements I've picked up along the way, the incidents in my life that have changed my ways of thinking and direction.
But the one constant is the time I had a pizza with a fried egg on it. That was a game changer.

Have you tried a burger with a slice of pineapple and an egg fried in the middle? I thought I'd puke but my mind was blown!

daveyeh

Butchered a pig on acid. Me, not the pig, but then again maybe it was. Who knows? The bloody walls are still moving.

jungleman

smash wrote: »

Have you tried a burger with a slice of pineapple and an egg fried in the middle? I thought I'd puke but my mind was blown!

Can't deal with pineapples. On a pizza or a burger? Yuck...

Boom_Bap

smash wrote: »

Have you tried a burger with a slice of pineapple and an egg fried in the middle? I thought I'd puke but my mind was blown!

Never with the pineapple, but fried eggs on burgers were also a monumental moment in my life.

I don't like the consistency of pineapple on pizza, so not sure how ambitious I would be to try it on a burger.
But I am thinking of fried egg and lasagne now. Watch this space.


Another massive moment in my life was when I lost contact with a friend after primary school. We started talking to each other again after he spotted me wearing a Snoop Doggy Dogg t-shirt in a park one day. We've been tight ever since, that was over 20 years ago now.

smash

jungleman wrote: »

Can't deal with pineapples. On a pizza or a burger? Yuck...

I still can't handle them on a pizza.

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Never with the pineapple, but fried eggs on burgers were also a monumental moment in my life.

Fried egg and black pudding on a burger... mmmmm

Utah

smash wrote: »

I still can't handle them on a pizza.

I like them.

My friend will get them on a pizza but pick them off because "he likes the flavour, but not the taste"

mud

Four untimely deaths among my friends and family that came in fairly quick succession. Suicide, cot-death, cancer and aneurysm. I lost a lot of happiness during that time and will never be fully carefree again. I'm an awful lot better now, life has moved on but that grief will always be a part of me.

Conor Bourke

The sudden death of my younger brother had an seismic effect on my life.

My immediate reaction was to change job, move house, move city within a few short months. On the face of it I was functioning and getting on with life but in truth I was not really coping or dealing with it at all. It took almost two years before I was back to anything like I was before and even then I was still very fragile. I ended up in a really dodgy relationship, the end of which eventually caused me to face up to all the stuff I'd been running from for almost 5 years.

I still miss him so much it hurts, I still wish none of this had happened to him or us but I am cautiously optimistic that I'm finally coming out the other side okay.

jungleman

Cornelius Crow wrote: »

The sudden death of my younger brother had an seismic effect on my life.

My immediate reaction was to change job, move house, move city within a few short months. On the face of it I was functioning and getting on with life but in truth I was not really coping or dealing with it at all. It took almost two years before I was back to anything like I was before and even then I was still very fragile. I ended up in a really dodgy relationship, the end of which eventually caused me to face up to all the stuff I'd been running from for almost 5 years.

I still miss him so much it hurts, I still wish none of this had happened to him or us but I am cautiously optimistic that I'm finally coming out the other side okay.

Horrible situation to deal with. Definitely an event which can change a person. Glad to hear you're dealing with it and coming through.

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

JupiterKid

Several events. The death of my mother when I was just 15. Getting my Masters which was a proud moment in my life. Meeting my now ex in February 2001. Being bullied out of a good job in 2007 which led to depression, bad anxiety and alcohol dependence.

Pac1Man

Jesus, I was going to write something until I read some of the horrific stories above. My 'story' wouldn't even register on their Richter scale.

jungleman

Pac1Man wrote: »

Jesus, I was going to write something until I read some of the horrific stories above. My 'story' wouldn't even register on their Richter scale.

Take a seat. Share with us.

Pac1Man

jungleman wrote: »

Take a seat. Share with us.

It's not even a story, not even a tale, not a song nor a sonnet.

I couldn't bare the embarrassing shame of its bland nothingness.

Buona Fortuna

Pac1Man wrote: »

I couldn't bare the embarrassing shame of its bland nothingness.

Ditto - but even less interesting

mud

Pac1Man wrote: »

It's not even a story, not even a tale, not a song nor a sonnet.

I couldn't bare the embarrassing shame of its bland nothingness.

Buona Fortuna wrote: »

Ditto - but even less interesting

Honestly, a friend of mine blames a relatively insignificant event for messing up his outlook on life. He was down in Kilkenny on a family trip in the '80s. His Uncle bought him one of those plastic walking sticks filled with smarties (oh to have the '80s back again). Anyway, the handle of the walking stick was loose and when he was walking all the smarties fell out onto the pavement. The sun was shining on this rainbow of broken dreams and he wasn't allowed to pick them back up again. He had to walk away from one of the greatest possessions he had ever owned and the unfairness of it all (he says) caused him to become quite negative.

You never know when a seemingly inconsequential event can have effects down the line

New Home

Exactly - it could be either end of the butterfly effect, for someone it's the butterfly moving its wings, for someone else the tornado.

jungleman

mud wrote: »

Honestly, a friend of mine blames a relatively insignificant event for messing up his outlook on life. He was down in Kilkenny on a family trip in the '80s. His Uncle bought him one of those plastic walking sticks filled with smarties (oh to have the '80s back again). Anyway, the handle of the walking stick was loose and when he was walking all the smarties fell out onto the pavement. The sun was shining on this rainbow of broken dreams and he wasn't allowed to pick them back up again. He had to walk away from one of the greatest possessions he had ever owned and the unfairness of it all (he says) caused him to become quite negative.

You never know when a seemingly inconsequential event can have effects down the line

It is funny how little things can affect a person though! Although that is extreme.

When I was a child I was always the "mad" one. Aunts and uncles dreaded me. I was a ball of weirdness just bouncing around the place. Anyway, our auntie used to mind myself and my older brother when my mam was at work.

One day, I was frogmarched over to my aunt's house by my mother. There was a dead goldfish on the kitchen table. Next thing, everyone just accuses me of taking the goldfish out its bowl the previous day, causing it to die. I think I was about 5 or 6 years old at the time. And they were accusing me of murder. Goldfish murder.

I denied that I did it, and they insisted that I did it. They insisted so much that I just confessed in the end. It was only around three years ago that my older (and much quieter) brother confessed to doing it.

That kind of had an effect on me over the years. I was always way more distrusting of adults afterwards, I just thought they were all weird.