We've all found ourselves at a crossroads of some kind at one point in our life, which has resulted in our needing to make a hasty decision.
Without much time to think, we often feel the need to ignore logic, and simply go with our gut.
Generally speaking, these decisions aren't terribly consequential, even if we might come across some new information down the line which makes us feel better about our decision.
In some cases however, making a decision based purely on our instincts may have proven to be a life saving situation.
In spite of the fact that the life or death stakes were completely oblivious to us at the time.
Redditor Ghostsarespoopy was eager to hear stories of how one, instinctual decision ended up saving their lives, leading them to ask:
"What’s a time where trusting your gut quite literally saved your life?"
Hidden By Grass
"I almost drove through a big patch of tall grass on my dirt bike just for fun, but at the last second hit the brakes and turned around."
"Didn't know why."
"Next time I went there, turns out there's a 75 foot cliff over a river right behind it that I would have just flew off at top speed."
"Because of the scenery, you couldn't tell at all looking head on to it."
"I still don't know what made me stop back then."- Quiet_Stranger_5622
Always Safety First
"I was working in the sales office at an engineering company."
"I was asked to record the serial numbers off a stack of large steel plates on the shop floor."
"I had to get someone with crane operating experience to lift the top plate so I could read the one underneath."
"The guy lifted it directly upwards about 6ft."
"I was just about to lean underneath the plate when a little voice inside my head said 'don't do that mate, get him to move the overhead plate to one side'."
"Just as I thought that, the clamp holding the plate failed and it fell to the ground, just in front of me.'
"It must've weighed about a tonne."
'If it'd fallen on my head, I'd have been killed instantly."- dineramallama
Hanging With The Wrong Crowd
"My GF met up with a work friend at a bar."
"This girl was with a guy who gave me seriously bad vibes."
"He was fake friendly but his eyes were crazy."
"My GF didn't see it."
"I wasn't having it."
"I told her I was leaving, and she really needed to come."
"We fought, I left, she came running after."
"Next morning, we find out the guy stabbed someone in the chest and killed the guy."
"I straight up said I told you so."
"He was f*cking crazy."
"Gfs friend spent the night in holding too."
"I don't know if it saved my life but it saved me one helluva bad time."- S_204
Active Robbery
"My boyfriend at the time and I were house sitting for his uncle."
"My boyfriend was at work and I was bathing our son before bed."
"I had the bathroom window (facing the backyard) very slightly cracked, and heard a cough from outside."
"This house was in a residential neighborhood so it could have been a neighbor, but I suddenly felt anxious and scared and something told me to go make sure the back door was locked."
"I left my two year old son alone in a towel in the bathroom and ran to the back door."
"As i placed my hand on the doorknob locking it, I came face to face with someone through the glass, who had his hand on the outside doorknob."
"He started pounding on the door and juggling the doorknob saying he was looking for someone and i just told him no, they're not here."
"He kept jiggling the doorknob and i ran to my son and grabbed my cell phone to call for help."
"Remember Im house sitting tho, and this was in 2004/2005 when they had those flip open phones, not a smart phone where you can just look at a map."
"So i had no idea what the address was, or where the house phone was."
"Anyways, i call 911 from the bathroom on my cell, while hearing loud pounding on the back door."
"The dispatchers tells me to find a house phone, piece of mail anything with address."
"I locate the house phone and call 911 from that. so have no idea how police got there so quickly, but just as I hear the back door glass break, the guy on the phone tells me to cover my sons head with a blanket and run out the front door into the backseat of the police car."
"I ran out the front door and saw 6 or more police cars all with guns drawn and straight into the waiting cruiser."
"After they arrested the guy, they ask me if the machete on the back porch belonged to the owners of the house."
"The guy had a machete and had I not trusted my gut that the cough sounded a little to close, and to check the back door, he would've walked right into an unlocked house to a 19 year old female and her young son alone."
"Turns out he had been robbing houses and had a backpack full of stolen things, and was high on meth."
"Anyways, super glad so followed my gut on that one."- Liketheweatherpnw
Listening To Nature
"One time I was hiking after a storm and my intuition told me to freeze."
"I listened and a large tree just fell down across the trail in front of me, right where I would have been if I didn't stop."- LogicalFallacyCat
Home Alone And Feeling Uneasy...
"I had a sense something was wrong in my house but no reason why."
"I went around looking but couldn’t find anything wrong or anyone in there."
"Felt so freaked I stayed at a friends place."
"Ended up being a carbon monoxide leak."
"Could’ve saved my life."- Responsible-Bet-7485
Questioning Unsafe Work Conditions
"Not necessarily saved my life, but saved me from getting seriously hurt."
"I was a temp worker at a warehouse, worst 9 months of my life, I wanted to die."
"One day, my boss who had no training on the forklift told me to climb up on a ladder and move something out of the way of the forklift, and my gut said 'tell her to turn the forklift off first' so I did."
"She scoffed and said it was unnecessary so she got this other guy to do it because I was being 'difficult'."
"Well, she moved the fork up and smashed his fingers against the ceiling breaking every finger on his hand besides his thumb."
"The badass just went 'ow!' and was like eh, bout time i retire anyways, huh?"
"He was like 70."- xarthos
When In Doubt, See A Doctor
"Extreme pain went to ER."
"Gangrenous appendicitis."
"Could have died."
"Thanks gut."- SternLecture
If You Can't Trust Your Gut, You Can At Least Trust Your Dog
"I had gotten my first black lab."
"He was about 10 months old when we went to a local park early in the morning to walk the trails."
"We had just finished a long trail and were resting."
"I was sitting on a bench."
"My dog's hair stood up and he started to growl."
"When I looked up, I saw a man walking towards me."
"His eyes didn't look right."
"I knew he was high."
"When my dog growled, he stopped."
"He gave a smirky smile and asked if my dog would bite."
"I told him he definitely would if the guy came any closer."
"He hesitated for a moment, and then he turned and walked away."
"To this day I am certain he meant to harm me."
"If I hadn't trusted my dog, I hate to think what would have happened."
"I gave him lots of hugs and treats that day."
"He died many years ago, but I think of him often."
"And I believe that when I cross over, he will be there waiting for me."
"He was the best dog I ever had."
"I still love and miss him greatly."- angelangelica16
It's never a fun feeling when you have to make a decision without any real time to think.
But if your gut is steering you in one direction, it's probably the right thing o head that way.
As sometimes there's nothing you can trust more than the hairs on the back of your neck.