What were your life altering events and how did they shape you?

Eighteen months ago I had an accident and my family was told I had 3 hours to live. Well I survived but I had broken my back in three places and was told I would never walk again. I came home from the rehabilitation nursing home able to walk again, four months after my accident, and able to take of myself. That was a miracle and another miracle was that I had been unconscious for at least two days before I was found and this was because my dogs were howling so much that my neighbors investigated and I was rushed to the hospital. So my dogs really saved my life. That experience and second chance at life made me look at things and life in a completely different way. I had always had faith but now my spirituality has evolved to a personal relationship with my God. I am so grateful for every minute of my new life and I never forget tell Him that.

Here I go again thinking lol. I just know when I was about 11 or 12 I decidded then that if I ever had kids they would be told abouy life from me not have to go to another person to hear about it like I had to for my mom never said a word to me.I saw a show in PE and had to go ask a neighbor lady what it meant for I just knew mom wouldnt tell me. But seems to me like I have always been this way I have all my own ideas of how life is to be and and thats how it is . I always knew I would be a strong person and have to handle a lot of things all at once or athat the same time. May be that when x did what he did really changed me for I was hard to convince that I was being loved or in love with 2nd hubby seemed to me like I had to do alot of hard work to make the marriage work but so did he . I took care of his family as they became mine for I lived with them for years and corrected the neices and tried to show them how to do home work and become young ladies and all but now they dont seem to think I did a thing lol . thats their problem yup! I still have contact with one sis and her daughter and they let me know about the reat of the family in Tenn. And we moved alot with hubby and his job and I felt like we started a new life every time we moved and it was about 700 times in 35 years. wel I am me and this is what ya get . lol hugs and thats it

I was very close to dying in 1999. I had a peritonitis, and here where I live about 80% of people who get it die of it. I didn't, but it was a very humbling experience. A couple of month prior to that I had turned to Roman-Catholicism, and had started to pray to Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Then I wondered: Is this how they pay me? By almost killing me? (I have to say, it was never clear how I got this peritonitis, the doctors were at a total loss.) By now I'm back to being an agnostic, I just don't know what happened, and I'm more careful.

I got married when I was 17, had my daughter when I was 18, and was a widow at 19. My husband was killed in a motorcycle accident when my daughter was 13 months old. Then 16 years later, I finally find a man that I love with all my heart. He was my best friend. He had an ex wife that wasn't about to let him be happy. So rather than fight her, he killed himself. So I am single and destined to stay that way. My heart couldn't handle losing another one.

Hi Perspectives, wow thats really interesting and let me know when you publish it....i am really not sure this will qualify to be added b'cos now i laugh about the whole situation but then i read your line 'big or little thing'...so i decided i will tell you about it. I had a considerably sheltered childhood. Infact you could say it was like a breeze i studied in a convent so we were all very protected LOL but after i finished school and stepped into college it was a whole new world. And i had a major crush on an older guy i dont remember how old he was all i knew was he had already finished college and was working but i was always scared to tell him anything. I used blush furiously whenever i even met him so i hardly went past Hello. He belonged to a different religion and to a 17 year old girl that seemed like a unsurmontable obstacle so i wanted to wait till i was 18 to tell him about my 'love' and i always fanastied that we had to run away from home (effect of too many romantic movies i guess LOL)and i had to be 18 if we were to get legally married. anyway one fine day all my dreams came crashing down b'cos the guy was getting married! at that time it was the most painful moment in my life. It was the first time i dreamed something really beautiful and then it came crashing down even before it started. i was even sucidal for a few days and no one at home knew what was happening b'cos i never told anyone. But my friends and my 'mother' at the convent talked me out of it. In fact i remember my 'mother' who taught us moral science b'cos i was closest to her and we kept in touch till she passed away 2 years back. She was wonderful. She gave me a lot of serious advise but she also had a whacky sense of humor and among everything she said the one thing i remember the most is 'you got to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet your prince Charming' that somehow stuck with me and we used to laugh about different 'frogs' that crossed my path since! She was a beautiful lady and you could actually sense the peace and radiance emitting from her. I still miss her and cry about her loss but then i remember one more of her gem 'Even this will pass' and ofcourse she told me a wonderful story about this line too! i can tell you that later if you have not heard of it already!

Another really interesting discussion to make me think! Although I'm still a teenager I think that there are a lot of events that have shaped my life. I think the first one was moving countries when I was six. My father got a job in Malaysia, so we moved there for nearly 6 years. I grew up in such a diverse community, and gained so much experience of different cultures that I know my friends have not been afforded. I think tht this made me into a much more open minded and accepting person, as well as giving me more experience of the way the world and communities work. I also got to eat the most amazing food! I think another thing that shaped my life was an offer from a University. In my second year of A level exams my parents got divorced, and my education suffered. Although I am quite level headed, I couldn't control the fact that I was hurting, and my grades started to drop. I was rejected from medical school, which absolutely shattered my heart. I didn't feel like I had anything to work for anymore. Fortunately, one of the medical schools I had applied to sent me an offer to do another course, it was crunch time, I needed to get AAB at the end of the year to get in. This gave me the kickstart that I needed and I decided that i would work really hard to get onto the course. In the end I got AABB which I was thrilled with, and ended up with me going to University and meeting the most amazing people. I'm also doing a ridiculously interesting degree, which I am hoping will give me an advantage when I try to apply to do medicine again in 2 years. This experience has taught me that I can do anything that I put my mind to, and that I should never give up. It also taught me that it is ok to fall apart sometimes, because I can pick myself back up and get on with my life. I think I shall leave it there! Thanks for the great discussion!

I forget to mention a really big life altering event that had a negative impact on my life. I developed kidney stones and it created a metabolic imbalance in my body and within less than a year most of my teeth broke off at the roots. I was in immense pain and the teeth became abscessed and I finally had to have them all extracted under a general surgery. I am going to be getting new dentures and was filled for them today. Within the next few weeks I will have my pearly whites back..and I am looking forward to putting the teeth problem behind me once and for all. Having the confidence to smile again will be another life altering event for me..and my wife.

I have had quite a few. My mother had a massive stroke when I was 11 and I ended up being her main care-given when she came home form the hospital. Meeting my wife was a life altering event that made life exciting and different. Leaving a major corporation to work with my wife and become an entrepreneur were all life altering events that made me grow and change.