What's the one thing that changed your life from a negative direction to a positive?
- Thread starter TheGhost
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Building my first PC in 2011. It got me started on a journey that would eventually lead to a career in IT. Before that, I was lost and broke career wise. It led me to getting the A+. A year after the A+, I was able to get my first IT job. I went from making minimum wage to $27.44 an hour in three years.
I don't what exactly happened but somehow ever since 2016 I've been feeling good ever since. I actually used to think I had depression, but haven't felt down for years, so I guess it was just temporary.
Meting my wife. She helped turn me around both financially and mentally. I pretty owe everything that I am right now to her.
Honestly? Getting dumped by my first girlfriend.
It set me straight in a way I can never truly repay her for.
It set me straight in a way I can never truly repay her for.
I learned to process stress differently after my retina cracked and I partially lost vision in my eye.
Had a condition called Central Serous Retinopathy, brought on by high levels of sustained stress - common in men who are pilots, in white collar jobs. I always had this idea that I was "built for stress" and could take it on - caused me to internalize stress in a way, and absorb stress from others to deal with and solve things.
When that happened, I took a VERY different viewpoint on life, realized that when I thought I wasn't stressed, it was actually just ambient stress that I misidentified. Took a whole new outlook on life, and starting a variety of methods to deal and cope and resolve stress.
Has DRAMATICALLY changed my life and I am far healthier as a result. I wish my eye cracked sooner.
Had a condition called Central Serous Retinopathy, brought on by high levels of sustained stress - common in men who are pilots, in white collar jobs. I always had this idea that I was "built for stress" and could take it on - caused me to internalize stress in a way, and absorb stress from others to deal with and solve things.
When that happened, I took a VERY different viewpoint on life, realized that when I thought I wasn't stressed, it was actually just ambient stress that I misidentified. Took a whole new outlook on life, and starting a variety of methods to deal and cope and resolve stress.
Has DRAMATICALLY changed my life and I am far healthier as a result. I wish my eye cracked sooner.
Haven't found it yet. I thought cutting back my drinking would do the trick. I cut back from roughly 15-20 drinks a night to 0-1, lost 100 lbs and feel much more energetic and healthy, and ive been doing it for 3 years now. My life is still overall on a negative course.
Working out. It feels fucking great to be in good shape. Completely different feeling when people "check you out". Just wish I'd done it sooner.
Yeah I quit 5 years ago after ending up in the ER and detoxing in the hospital.
Went from being a miserable shell of a person on the verge of death, to being somewhat normal lol.
As weird as it may sound; losing my father.
The experience was absolutely horrifying. But it made me reevaluate a lot of things, like where I was in life and where I wanted to be.
I now have a job that I love doing and I am starting to get better at removing/sorting out the things in my life that affect me negatively. And slowly realizing that I have suffered depression for a long while.
I fucking hate that it took *that* to wake me up, though.
The experience was absolutely horrifying. But it made me reevaluate a lot of things, like where I was in life and where I wanted to be.
I now have a job that I love doing and I am starting to get better at removing/sorting out the things in my life that affect me negatively. And slowly realizing that I have suffered depression for a long while.
I fucking hate that it took *that* to wake me up, though.
Deciding to be proud of my aboriginal heritage rather than hide it from people. It has given me immense strength and resolve
Breaking up my girlfriend of 7 years. I was trapped in a relationship where we would keep fighting and I would keep trying to convince myself that was all what normal couples do. I would avoid talking my mind to avoid fights and that is the exact opposite of what I am.
After a couples of years I met my wife and after 9 years and 2 kids I am extremely happy and we barely fight.
After a couples of years I met my wife and after 9 years and 2 kids I am extremely happy and we barely fight.
Reading The Catcher in the Rye, Slaughterhouse 5, and Infinite Jest within about 6 months of each other.
I was a bookish kid at school and enjoyed most of the literature we were assigned, but only really read genre fiction outside of it. I kept meaning to tackle a lot of the classics but never got around to it. After school, I got a degree in Computer Science, which took me away from them entirely and put me into career paths I was pretty miserable in.
When I was 25 I began to diversify my reading a bit. I was still sticking to genre fiction and graphic novels, but began branching out to authors I hadn't read before. Then for Easter that year my mum got me a copy of The Catcher in the Rye instead of an egg. It was the first piece of "serious" lit I'd read in years and I had a weird relationship with it where I wasn't sure I'd really enjoyed it but wanted to dig deeper. It pushed me to read some other recent classics, reading Slaughterhouse 5 and Infinite Jest soon after, both of which completely changed my conception of what fiction could do.
At the time, I'd been considering going back to uni to get a PGCE to teach Computer Science, but I decided against it because I just didn't have the passion for the subject. But reading those books I could see myself in another life teaching lit instead. It took a long time and two really miserable jobs later, but eventually I decided to get a BA in English Lit, then an MA. Now I'm doing my PhD in contemporary lit and having the greatest fucking time.
There are a lot of little things that fed into me getting to where I am now, but reading those three books in close succession basically lit the fuse.
I was a bookish kid at school and enjoyed most of the literature we were assigned, but only really read genre fiction outside of it. I kept meaning to tackle a lot of the classics but never got around to it. After school, I got a degree in Computer Science, which took me away from them entirely and put me into career paths I was pretty miserable in.
When I was 25 I began to diversify my reading a bit. I was still sticking to genre fiction and graphic novels, but began branching out to authors I hadn't read before. Then for Easter that year my mum got me a copy of The Catcher in the Rye instead of an egg. It was the first piece of "serious" lit I'd read in years and I had a weird relationship with it where I wasn't sure I'd really enjoyed it but wanted to dig deeper. It pushed me to read some other recent classics, reading Slaughterhouse 5 and Infinite Jest soon after, both of which completely changed my conception of what fiction could do.
At the time, I'd been considering going back to uni to get a PGCE to teach Computer Science, but I decided against it because I just didn't have the passion for the subject. But reading those books I could see myself in another life teaching lit instead. It took a long time and two really miserable jobs later, but eventually I decided to get a BA in English Lit, then an MA. Now I'm doing my PhD in contemporary lit and having the greatest fucking time.
There are a lot of little things that fed into me getting to where I am now, but reading those three books in close succession basically lit the fuse.
Becoming a musician and writing music was a big turning point for me. My childhood/most of my teenage years were spent searching for an identity/anything to give me self worth. Making art, performing it, and the friends I met through music did a lot for my life.
Had an entheogen induced psychotic break that resulted in a religious conversion to Theravada Buddhism, lol.
Got diagnosed with lymphoma at 7 while growing up in bumfuck Siberia and because of that ended up moving to England to live with a distant relative and then ended up in the US adopted by that relative's daughter. Lymphoma turned out to be a misdiagnosis too.
Had I not, I'd still likely be living in Siberia, doing god knows fucking what - probably smoking and drinking my way to an early grave like many people there in the remote parts.
Had I not, I'd still likely be living in Siberia, doing god knows fucking what - probably smoking and drinking my way to an early grave like many people there in the remote parts.
There were a lot of small things that all added to the turn around, but the breakup of my relationship helped bring them all into play fully. I've literally never been better in myself than I am at the moment, and it is really an amazing thing to experience.
It isn't to say my life is perfect, but it is now something I enjoy instead of dread.
It isn't to say my life is perfect, but it is now something I enjoy instead of dread.
I know my answer is not going to be popular on this message board, and it may sounds cliche but its true so I'm okay with it.
Jesus Christ.
I went from being a homeless heroin addict to living a fulfilling life with my wonderful GF. My entire demeanor and outlook on life has changed.
Jesus Christ.
I went from being a homeless heroin addict to living a fulfilling life with my wonderful GF. My entire demeanor and outlook on life has changed.
I was depressed, drinking waaay too much, and failing in college and wanted to take a year off from school after a disastrous end to a friendship/roommate situation and very painful end of a relationship. My mom wasn't having any of that shit and pushed me to get back in school in a major that I actually enjoyed and was good at, as well as go to counseling and deal with the depression. My grades dramatically improved and life overall was just much better after that. It makes a huge difference when you study or work in a field you're good at or enjoy. I'm married now and we have a ways to go before we're truly living comfortably (she's a recent immigrant still looking for a job so we're financially strained), but I'd probably be in a bad place had I not received the help I needed.
Moving out of my hometown.
I had a good 2-3 years where I was at the absolute lowest I'd ever been in my life and was doing nothing about it when I was at home. Getting the opportunity to leave a place where I wasn't growing and getting my life back on track hasn't been an easy journey but it's been absolutely necessary. It's pushed me to work harder, get out of my comfort zone, meet amazing people, gain a sense of responsibility and reorganize my faith. I'm not quite where I want to be but at least now I feel like I'm making up for lost time and starting a new chapter in my life.
I had a good 2-3 years where I was at the absolute lowest I'd ever been in my life and was doing nothing about it when I was at home. Getting the opportunity to leave a place where I wasn't growing and getting my life back on track hasn't been an easy journey but it's been absolutely necessary. It's pushed me to work harder, get out of my comfort zone, meet amazing people, gain a sense of responsibility and reorganize my faith. I'm not quite where I want to be but at least now I feel like I'm making up for lost time and starting a new chapter in my life.