Is there an event in you life that changed who you are?

Question

Can you remember anything that has happened in your life that changed who you are or the way you think of things? If that event never happened do you think you would still be who you are today or would you be different? For better or worse? Would you change that event if you had a choice?

Answer 1

An abusive marriage. I married the guy thinking that he was a terrific and loveable guy and his colors changed basically after we said "I do" Thankfully the marriage lasted only 9 months.

I will tell you, it did change my life. I used to have very low self esteem and I lacked confidence, but my eyes opened. I realized that I was a better person that what I thought myself to be. The abusive relationship made me a more charitable and compassionate person, it made me wiser, and more aware of the reality of abuse. It made me understand it more. It made me want to teach others about abuse and the facts and myths of abuse.
I realized my own strength when I had the courage to do what abused women do not have the strength to do, tell people what was going on and then silently escape.
two months later the divorce went through and was finalized. Thankfully. I never seen or heard from him again.

It sounds crazy, but I would not change the event. At least not EVERYTHING , but I feel that I would not be where I am at now if that did not happen. I would not be able to teach people and touch lives as I do if this particular incident did not occur.

Answer 2

This is a great question in my view. In 1980 I experienced a life-changing event. I remember it as if it happened yesterday. I remember the day, the weather, all the details surrounding it vividly. I call the experience a "qualitative exaltation of being". This sounds fancy only because I cannot give an adequate description of the experience in this format. If I described it in full here the words "qualitative exaltation" would become clearer.

I would not change that event for anything in the world. It did not make my life easier. In many respects it made it harder.

I think the event changed who I am. But this statement must be qualified. There are parts of my personality that remained unchanged in a number of respects. But the core, the essence seems to have experienced some sort of metamorphosis. After this experience it became much clearer to me that there is a dimension to human consciousness where science and religion meet and function together. At this nexus it also seems that male and female function together in the deepest substratum of one's being.

I think if I had not had this experience I would feel dangerously empty inside. I think I would be vague about most issues. I think I would not believe in the soul. And I think I would have no sense of what "spirit" was. Rather, I would be trying to reduce everything to physcial causes only.

The experience of this event was an immense gift. But it also came with a price. I am no longer free to just do anything I want. I am not allowed to indulge all my desires. I have to think of the whole Earth when I act. I have to think objectively about what effect my actions will have on the Earth. After this event it seems I cannot go back on this. In this sense I seem to be permanently changed. I see things in wholes. I see everything as being connected to everything else. Ironically, at times I also feel completely isolated from the lives and trends of others as if I were living in a parallel universe.

Nevertheless, despite these rigors, I would not change the event in any way whatsoever. There was and is nothing to do but receive the gift and allow it to grow like a rare and beautiful plant. The essence is the thing. It breathes with the world. Before this event, the essence seemed lost. It was hidden. After this event I could not pretend to be lost no matter how hard things got.

B. Lyons

Answer 3

I will answer the other questions first.
My life would have been way worse.
I would never change the event.
I would be completely changed I wouldn't have watched such an amazing sport, and I would have come up with a completely different career choice.


Let's take a trip back in time 10 years ago. (At least here anyway) Nickelodeon is channel 24. But there is nothing on television, so I am stuck watching a NASCAR (then) Winston Cup race. The winner of said race was the car I was rooting for #24 Jeff Gordon. The only reason that I was rooting for him was because Nick was channel 24. Since then I have watched almost every NASCAR NEXTEL CUP race (including today's) and am still a Jeff Gordon fan. Later that year I even decided to become a NASCAR NEXTEL CUP driver like my idol.

Another correlation to NASCAR I have is between Casey Cane. We share the same birthday. We are nine years apart. He drives car number nine. COINCIDENCE I THINK NOT.

Answer 4

Seven yrs ago I lived through the agony of the death of my son, who was a still born. I don't think that there are enough words or even the right ones that can ever come close to describing what it's like to lose & live through the loss of a child.

Shortly after his death, I was diagnosed w/severe infertility, it took 6 yrs to conceive my daughter. Naively I believed that this couldn't happen again, that God wouldn't be so cruel to allow me to loose another child, especially not my miracle baby, right? However, last yr, I learned that I was horribly wrong when I had to endure the death of my daughter, born still on May 13, 2005.

It changed who I am in the respect that I learned the hard way to NEVER assume anything & to never think that it's safe to believe that tragedy can't strike twice in the same way. That bad things do happen, despite how prepared we may be for them & that they are going to happen no matter what.

Today, I am still trying to make heads or tails as to what this all means. I think it's obvious to say that I would change it if I could. If the events hadn't of happened, I don't think I would have the sobering look on life as I do now... I guess the rose colored glasses had to come off some time.

Answer 5

Every event in my life has shaped and changed me in some way. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. I gave a child up for adoption, that was probably one of the big life changing events for me. No I wouldn't change a thing, I like who I am today and I wouldn't be here without having been through everything I have.

Answer 6

there have been many things that changed the course of my life. some just changed small things, but there are some other things that have really changed my life. or at least i think they have. sometimes i wish a had gone down a different path, but then i think about the good things that my real choice made happen, and then i don't know if i could change it, if i would or not.

Answer 7

I was adopted at the age of six. This change the course of my life. If this had not happened I have doubt that I'd have survived to adulthood, with this in mind I'd say it was a change for the better. I would not change this event if given a choice.

Answer 8

A life-changing event for me was traveling outside of the US for the first time. I realized that I really knew nothing about the other side of the world except for what' I'd read or what I saw on tv. I've traveled to over 20 countries now and it has been really eye-opening about how filtered our news is, how unaware of what's really going on in the world many Americans are and how accepting we are of the pictures of other cultures and people in the world that is painted for us on the nightly news.

Answer 9

Yes, I got messed up in a car accident 30 years ago this August...... If it never happened, I'd have a better life in general.

Sorry.... I can't change this one...... this one is forever!

How many more will end up like me by the end of the summer?

TOO MANY! If you are between 16 and 25, you are most at risk..... be careful on the roads! You want to go back to school in one piece!

Answer 10

I think the event that changed me was the John Glenn flight. I got very excited by space flight and reading science fiction. I have basically read everything about science fiction that I could since age 9. When I turned 30, I met someone who read science fiction and loved the space program and astronomy. We eventually married and have been happy together for 24 years.