Making decisions can sometimes be painfully difficult.
Even over things that will prove to be of little to no consequence down the line, such as what to wear to a wedding, or what to have for dinner. Sometimes, however, an impromptu or minor decision could prove to be a bit more important than you could have possibly realized.
Possibly forever changing the course of your life.
A recent Redditor was curious to learn all about the most important decisions people ever made in their lives which they thought were minor at the time, leading them to ask:
"What's a seemingly small decision you made that ended up drastically changing your life?"
He Could Literally Go On Singing...
"Sat in with a friend’s band in college when their bass player went home for the holidays."
"Almost said no (20 songs to learn in a couple of weeks) but realized the money from the shows would buy a pair of Docs I wanted."
"Met my future wife at the first show and we’ve been together for 33 years, very happily married with two grown kids."- IsolationDrillsNow
Sometimes Hobbies Do Pay Off...
"So when i was like 17 playing WoW 20h a day I was in this guild that was full of great guys but wasn't as active as i wanted."
"Still i didn't wanna leave them."
"One day a guy from the guild told me he was going to another one that was hardcore and i should come cause i was a good holy paladin, a class that was very wanted, and they needed one and he would vouch for me."
"I decided to leave my old, my first guild to pursue a hardcore career with this guy i didn't know."
"And boy were we hardcore."
"Raided non stop and were the 2nd best guild in the server."
"1st being some esport sponsored guild so we were basically the best among normal players."
"Me and that guy ended up getting close despite never meeting."
"Life happened and I stopped playing, he played on and off."
"One day he texts me put of the blue that his company abroad was looking for someone who could speak my language and if i was interested."
"I literally had nothing in my life, working in restaurants and kitchens barely affording rent."
"So i was like sure."
"Spent whatever money I had on plane tickets, and off I went."
"Everyone had told me it was a scam and I was an idiot."
"A small part of me thought so too. But nope, it was legit."
"7 years later, my career has taken off from that starting job, and I make 6 figures living abroad."
"He was my best man at my wedding."- Elddif_Dog
Food Is Known To Bring People Together
"I called my uncle, who is a chef. How does he make his beef stew?"
"I knew nothing about cooking then, and my uncle walked me through everything."
"'Let's go grocery shopping!'"
"So I'm on the phone with him getting ingredients and probably spending a bit too much - but I had nothing in my apartment at the time lol."
'Since then, I have been fairly successful in the food industry."
"I found my now wife who was a cook."
"Both of us are on the admin side, and talking with my uncle started a chain of events that seriously shaped me, and helped me figure out SO much about myself."
"I struggle with Essential Tremors, so my cooking takes a slight set-back at times."
"But I know everything about kitchens and restaurants now."
"I got a wild hair up my @ss and quit a job at a hotel restaurant, and that day found a better gig."
"I have job security for life and it all started because of that stew he makes that's not even his best dish."
"My uncle is an incredible guy, and before that, I hardly spoke to him. But now it's nearly daily were bullsh*tting on the phone, taking trips with my aunt, cousin and my wife to LA for food adventures."
"The happiest I've ever been was sparking up a friendship with distant relatives I had no idea were cool as sh*t."- Pitiful_Winner2669
Charlie Brown Cooking GIF by PeanutsGiphy
And They Say A Friendly Hello Can't Hurt...
"For once in my life I decided to say hi to an attractive girl the day she started at my work."
"From there on out she did the rest of the work."
"We dated, fell in love, got a house together and were together for years!"
T"hen she lied, manipulated me, cheated on me...which has caused 4 years of trauma."
"I shouldn't have said hi."- Spartan1278
If People Ever Have Regrets, It's Almost Always Over The Things They Didn't Do...
"I almost didn’t send in an application for a writing residency."
"Got it."
"Met a famous writer who produced my first big play."- DramaticQuality1711
It's How You Play The Game...
"I learned PHP as a teenager to make a small sh*tty forum for my friends CS clan. Guess who has a career now."- Easy_Dig_88
Counter Strike Logo GIF by BLASTGiphy
The Best Kind Of Hat Trick!
"After high school I took some classes at the local community college."
"Between classes I would hang out in the cafeteria area because there was seating and food."
"I kept seeing this guy in there who was rocking a blue fedora (this was back before fedoras became a cringey neckbeard staple), so one day I told him 'Hey, I like your hat'."
"We chatted for a while and he invited me to come hang out with his group of friends, and all of them (Hat Guy included) quickly became my group of friends."
"Hat Guy also introduced me to an internet discussion forum he spent a lot of time on, and I made several very good online friends through there as well."
"Time passed and I found myself feeling very stuck in a rut in my life, working a dead-end job with no real prospects for anything other than more of the same."
"A couple from that forum, who lived in another state, offered to let me move in with them to do a sort of life reset."
"I took them up on their offer and moved 600 miles from the only place I'd ever known."
"Decided to once again take some classes at a community college while working part-time and met a guy who I really hit it off with."
"We've now been together for ten years and married for five, and we bought a house two years ago."
"All because I told a stranger in the cafeteria that I liked his hat."- Lachwen
It Can't Be Said Enough... All Jobs Are Important
"Getting a campus job when I was in college."
"I shared an interview with a guy who I would end up befriending."
"Then, a couple months after we became friends and he introduced me to his friend group, I’d meet my future husband."
"Because of my husband, I worked harder on my mental health, moved out of my (toxic) parents’ home, lived in his town and got jobs around the area, and now we’ve been married 2 years and we’re financially stable enough to buy our first house."- rosie-skies
How Many People Will Take Up Gaming After Reading This Article?...
"Took my birthday off work to spend the day with my kids."
"My birthday is usually in the holidays but that one year they were at school."
"Decided to stay off work and play video games."
"The rocket league match making paired me up in 2s with a friendly dude, and it generally being a pretty toxic place, we partied up and kept playing together."
"Got to know each other, learnt we had similar jobs, became pretty close online friends."
"One day he said he's got a new job and they need someone with my skills."
"Would I be interested?"
"It pays significantly more than my current job."
"Had a blast working together."
"Then COVID happened, my Dad had Alzheimer's, and we lived a couple of hours away from him."
"Now we could afford to move closer to home."
"Got to spend my Dad's final 2 years seeing each other way more often, and also got to be there at the end."- poppahorse
Game Boy If There's Anything In Life That's Always Reciprocated... It's Kindness!
Being nice.
"For a long time, up until my mid twenties I was miserable all the time."
"Bad sh*t kept happening to me and it was making me a bitter, mean person."
"Then one day it occurred to me, that maybe IM the problem (shocker lol) I started to go out of my way at to be kind to people, to help them , compliment them, even just saying good morning."
"And wouldn’t you know, now I have a ton of friends, a sweet boyfriend, have an awesome job etc."
"Obviously more things went into changing my life, but being kind to people has really helped me cultivate good relationships."
"I know it sounds obvious but sometimes you don’t even really understand how you’re coming across to people, ya know?"
"But yeah, I’m finally truly happy the last couple years of my life, so I’m grateful."- Affectionate-Ad-5568
Such A Sweet Story... Almost
"I decided to visit an ex while I was in town."
"This girl and I had been dating for under a year when my family decided to move away."
"We were a relatively new couple but we grew up together and were best friends before dating."
"I lived across the country for a year and we kept in touch but nothing major; we both dated other people while 'being friends' but we both harbored feelings."
"About a year into us being away, my family decided to have a vacation to our home town to visit family and friends and, while in town, I realized that my ex’s mom was having a birthday that week."
"I spent the week in town and hanging with friends but I kind of hid the fact that I was in town to my ex."
"On the day of the birthday, I decided to stop in as I knew they always threw a huge party and, not surprisingly, I was right on time for the party."
"For a few hours, me and my ex talked about what could have been and our feelings for each other."
"Over the course of the night, I decided that there wasn’t really a future where I was; I had a year and never grew a friend base or any meaningful relationships and she was in the same boat with relationships. I ended up telling my family my plans and, to my surprise, my brother and my mom had the same feelings about moving back but never said anything because 'they didn’t want to cause waves'.”
"We moved back and I started really dating that girl."
"We have been married for a decade and we have a few kids."
"My brother is happily married to the girl he was dating before we moved, and my mom has a great career."
"My dad never forgave us."
"He has a new family."- classroomcomedian
Road Trip Summer GIF by @SummerBreakGiphy
There's A Reason Some Apps Are So Popular
"I lived in the Midwest (USA) for 30 years."
"During Covid, I had to move to the Southwest."
"I was bored, depressed, and lonely."
"I came across Meet Up."
"It’s an app that lets you join groups and go to events."
"I wasn’t sure if I wanted to use it."
"I decided to join to test it out. It pretty much changed my life."
"I was able to meet a lot of people, and was able to participate in a lot of activities."
"I ended finding a roommate, making friends, and feeling better about myself."
"I now run my own groups with thousands of people, and periodically host events with upwards of hundreds of people."
"If I decided not to download that app, I’m not sure where I’d be right now."
"I understand that not all experiences are like mine and that I caught lightening in a bottle."
"But despite it being a small decision, it did drastically change my life."- Viper-No-Viping
Perfectly Single
"Give up on dating."
"Suddenly I have savings, a really good credit score and can go to my favorite barcades every weekend if I like."- EvyThePossum
Best Hit Decline If You Don't Know Them...
"Accepting a Facebook friend request."
"Had no idea the guy was looking for someone to use to replace the mother of his kid and spent the next ten years being lied to, controlled, manipulated, cheated on, used as an incubator and more."
"Wasn't a good time."- tired-nonsense
social media facebook GIF by Guy TreflerGiphy
Even when a decision clearly isn't life or death, it's always worth giving it some careful consideration.
For better or worse, even the smallest decisions could prove life-altering.
But as evidenced above, when in doubt, the thing to do is apparently start gaming!
@sama/X
