Life is full of choices.
Some have only a subtle impact on our lives, like choosing what to eat for breakfast. Others can completely and irrevocably change our future path.
Sometimes we're not even the one making the decision, but our life is altered anyway.
Reddit user Excellent-Walk7280 asked:
"What's the biggest 180 you've seen a person's life take?"
Recovery
"My niece went from being a meth-addicted felon who couldn't take care of her kids and bouncing in and out of jail to a respectable, reliable member of society."
"There was no fanfare. She just quietly went about changing her life. Most of us had just sort of written her off as a lost cause. My sister (her mother) had actually assumed legal custody of her kids."
"And she just...changed. She did what she needed to do to get her life back on track. It took a while, but it's one of the most amazing and remarkable turnarounds I have ever seen."
~ DickySchmidt33
Redirection
"I knew a guy in college who was a straight-A student on track to become a doctor, but he was miserable and burned out."
"One day, he dropped out, moved to a small town, and started a woodworking business. He's now incredibly happy-making custom furniture and says it's the best decision he ever made."
~ OshiriPlz
Hilarious
"I know a guy who was super shy and never went out, but then he started doing stand-up comedy, and now he’s performing all over the place."
"It’s wild how much he changed."
~ vicicute
Actual Bootstraps
"My brother’s friend grew up with a pretty rough home life. As a result, he spent a lot of time at my house and he more or less became an additional sibling and child in our house."
"My parents even offered to let him live with us after he graduated high school. Fortunately for him, he was able to get a full ride to a prestigious university and made friends with a bunch of rich guys there who let him live in their nice shared rental, and would often gift him experiences or gently used really nice things."
"He graduated with honors and made six figures out of college. He’s since gotten married and made a life for himself in our hometown."
"I don’t know how much contact he has with his family but he’s still close to mine."
~ Fun-Shame399
Happiness Is Health
"My high school gym teacher went from being a health nut and bodybuilder to a professional pastry chef."
"One day he just decided he was tired of bench presses and protein shakes, went to culinary school, and now he runs one of the best bakeries in town."
"The dude gained like 50 pounds, but swears he's never been happier."
~ Immediate_Theory_779
Dopesick
"Affluent family. Star college track athlete. Olympic hopeful."
"Knee injury. Surgery went well. Full recovery predicted. Prescription for Oxy for the pain."
"Addiction. Expanding drug problem. Begins using heroin. Homeless."
"Four felony convictions for crimes to feed the addiction = life without parole in prison."
~ varthalon
"Almost the exact same thing happened to a friend of mine in high school. She was a star basketball player and had a knee injury, and was prescribed Oxy after the surgery."
"Developed into a heroin addiction and she was dead from an OD within about 3 years. Absolutely tragic, she had so much to offer the world and drugs stole that from her and from all of us who knew her."
"Addiction is a b*tch, and people look down on addicts, but stories like hers aren’t uncommon. It’s not always people making a conscious choice to f*ck their lives up, it happens gradually and they’re often in too deep already before they even realize that it’s a problem."
~ jhumph88
Bouncing Back
"A guy I went to middle school with, probably the smartest person I know, went to med school but dropped out the year he had to begin talking to patients because he had zero social skills."
"He ended up becoming an avid ping-pong player. He’s now a full time professional ping pong instructor."
~ meltedlaundry
Attitude Adjustment
"My brother spent his late teens and mid-twenties being a lying, thieving, directionless bum who flunked out of college despite being extremely bright."
"Then one day he just decided enough was enough, a switch flipped in his brain or something, and he went back to school for electrical engineering, graduated one of the top of his class, and has a stable, well-paying career."
"And his relationship with the family has never been better. I couldn’t be more proud of him."
~ Square-Raspberry560
Tragic Outcome
"A friend of mine from high school. He wasn’t rich but was a really good kid from a decent family. Smart, quiet, well liked, totally against any vices, didn’t smoke weed or drink with us and we all respected that."
"He was also a great athlete. When we graduated, he got a scholarship to play college basketball. I was proud of him."
"Fast forward a couple of years, I see on Facebook he’s a struggling heroin addict on probation for various property crimes. During the summer after high school, he fell into destructive habits."
"Instead of going to college, he sold drugs and worked under the table at a smoke shop to feed his addiction."
"Fast forward to this year, and I find out from an old classmate that he passed away of an OD long ago. His family never published an obituary, no announcement on social media. Very sad."
~ CPSux
Finding Joy
"My physician canceled my yearly physical a few months ago, and when I called the office to reschedule, I was told to pick a different provider because he is no longer practicing medicine."
"I wanted to be nosy, so I googled him, thinking I may find something salacious."
"Nope. He just moved to the beach and opened up a surf shop and started his own water sport athletic clothing line."
~ BigBadMrBitches
Losing Bet
"He was a law-abiding, productive member of society with a great career, home, and family. Then, one day, he decided to go to the casino for fun."
"2 years later he was a convicted felon with no home, less family and no career."
"180’s are not always good things."
~ paradisebella
Choices
"My sister. She had a string of bad boyfriends in high school and one of them got her into drugs. She married a guy after knowing him for 8 days."
"He was an abusive a**hole who abandoned her, so she turned to her dealer who she married after her divorce from guy #1. They had a kid and got busted selling drugs and storing them under the baby crib."
"Kid got taken by the state. Sister and husband went to jail. Sister realized she f*cked up. Sister vows to make a change. She goes to rehab and goes through every step she needed to get her kid back."
"Junkie husband won't change. Sister gets pregnant with kid #2, but leaves him before kid #2 is born. They get divorced."
"She stays clean, remarried to an amazing guy, lands a good job and has another kid. 19 years sober. I'm so f*cking proud of her."
~ acheron53
TBI
"TBI [Traumatic Brain Injury] can be horrible. A family friend of mine was a well-respected civil engineer and volunteered his extra time for various community organizations."
"Everyone who knew him thought he was great. I did too. Then came the car accident."
"The man the hospital discharged was not the same person. Subject to frequent and random bouts of rage for no discernable reason, it was only about a month or so before his wife moved herself and the children out for their safety."
"Eventually he was murdered by some drug dealer who was mad that he'd spent some time with 'his' prostitute/girlfriend."
~ GreedyNovel
Still Waters
"I have a friend who was a quiet librarian who spent her days surrounded by books and her evenings alone at home."
"She decided to join a local improv group just to try something new and within a few months discovered a natural talent for comedy that ignited a passion she never knew she had."
"Fast forward two years, and she had quit her job, moved to LA, and landed a spot as a writer on a popular comedy show."
~ mariannamom
New Man
"Dear friend of mine used to be a self-centered banker crypto bro with vile views on women. He was wealthy at a young age and even had an actual, honest to God marriage of convenience/trophy wife."
"He was driving alone on a rural road during the holidays and had a car accident where it flipped. He got some head trauma from that, but also the heat in the car went on and out of control. So, it turned into heat stroke that became an actual stroke."
"Took him three months to get out of a coma. He wasn't good at math anymore and had a soft and friendly personality . Like, unusually so, for him."
"He also immediately demanded to be given drawing supplies. He didn't have a lot of memories of before and still doesn't. He's not rich anymore, is a professional artist now, and him and his trophy wife fell in love for real."
"He's extremely happy. He threw out all of his business suits, wears exclusively Hawaiian shirts, has a bunch of dogs, is bisexual and makes erotic ceramics."
"We became friends after his accident. I'm a stroke survivor and artist too."
~ JAbremovic
What's the biggest course correction/going off course you've seen someone's life take?
@EdwardLawrence/X