Life is best described as unpredictable. With so many highs and lows, each experience leaves us wiser than before. But, there are some touching incidents that alter the very core of our faith and beliefs. We all have that one life-changing experience, which changed our perspective and the way we look at things; that one moment that hit us so hard and brought about a significant fundamental change in our personality.
People on Quora shared some uniquely interesting incidents that changed their lives forever. Read on to feel inspired.
1. I was away on a long weekend with a group of my best friends, sitting around, drinking and having fun when something struck me.
I wondered how this had happened? The most healthy person in the room had recently completed an Iron Man triathlon, so I had a pretty high benchmark to meet. Fast forward a few years and I have completed 30+ marathons and ultra marathons and I think I did just fine.
2. My break up taught me that all it takes is a moment for your life to change. All of a sudden, a person very dear to you can decide to walk away.
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A good job, cool gadgets, a perfect resume – everything becomes useless because you want that someone special to come back. It taught me that being good at things doesn’t mean that you’ll be good in relationships. If there is anyone who truly cares for you, it is your parents and siblings. Looking at your condition, your friends may leave you alone for sometime, your ex’s friends may fail to recognize you, your colleagues may give you personal space but only your parents will keep calling you to reinstate your faith in life.
3. I was sitting in my room with some friends when I got a call from my dad’s number. I thought he was going to ask about the interview that I had just given. I was tired from the journey so decided not to answer it.
He called again. I was not sure how he would react, but still I decided to answer the phone call. An unfamiliar voice from the other side asked, “Aap Abhay bol rahe hain”?
But he didn’t. When my mom came to know about this, she fainted. Everything changed for us. His body arrived wrapped in the flag, with other army personnels. After all the rituals, they handed over his cell phone. When I went through his call details, I saw that he had called me like a 100 times but I was in the SSB interview.
4. A damn mouse changed my life.
At 20, in the final year of my B.tech Industrial Biotechnology degree, I had still not fallen in love with the course. I never found any lectures inspiring. Lab work was extremely boring. Nothing made sense. Confidence in handling experiment was zero. I was scared of laminar, microscope, Petri dishes and agarose gel. Name any basic experiment and I was reluctant to perform it. I never thought about investing my time to take up research as a career.
As if being dumbstruck with him wasn’t enough, I find myself exploring another one, which was younger than the other one. All white in colour, it hadn’t developed its blood vessels yet. There was a tiny, little thing in him that looked a little red. Within n seconds, the red thing pounded. My heart will always cherish the beat of that heart! That beat was all I needed. Determined to pursue research, I rigorously prepared for exams to join an institute where research was the prime focus, lectures were interesting and mentors were inspiring.
5. This happened during my B.Tech first semester. It was our first lab of computer programming. All the students entered the lab and were asked to switch on the system. But I couldn’t start it because I had never used a computer before.
I didn’t ask anyone to help me either. I was not fluent in Hindi or English. I was scared at that moment.
This incident was an awful experience but I took this as a motivation. Since that day, I am doing good and have proved myself in college. Today, I have good knowledge of softwares and I also understand the problems of other students.
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6. My father used to work as a diamond worker in Surat but he got fired from his job.
To earn a living, he began selling chocolates to shopkeepers. This incident happened when I was sleeping in my room a night before my birthday. When my father came home from work, my mom asked him to give her a bag of chocolates that I wanted to distribute among my friends in school the next day. To this, my father replied that he could give her the packet of chocolates but it would cost him a week’s earnings. Listening to this, my mother started crying.
He was working the entire day, selling chocolates on a bicycle only to come home late at night, all for his family. This incident changed me a lot. I started working at local vadapav shop as a dish cleaner where I earned ₹ 10 per day but I was still happy because I could cover my school fee in just 9 days. Now, I never take change from small vendors and rickshaw drivers because I know what it feels when your father comes home late after a day of hard work. I value money. I book AC train & flight tickets for my family but myself travel in sleeper and general class whenever possible.
7. Every day I catch a bus to my college from my usual bus stop. One fine day, I saw a lady with her cute little daughter. She asked me about a bus no. and I directed her. Meanwhile, the kid just kept smiling at me. I reached for my pocket and gave her a chocolate.
After that day, I used to see them near the bus stop everyday. There was an exchange of smiles and a goodbye. I came to to know that they lived in my colony. Often times, I saw her playing with other children. This continued for some days. One day, I didn’t see them near the bus stop. I thought the little one might be ill or had a holiday. A few days passed and their absence continued.
I asked the neighbors about the reasons and got to know that her suicide letter said her husband cheated on her and left her. She didn’t have a decent job to earn a living and she was tired of the loneliness and emotional trauma. When I asked about her daughter, I was told that she might be in the orphanage nearby as no one came to take her.
8. I was in my final year of engineering and was preparing for campus placement. August 2014 brought an unfortunate day in my life.
Life hit me so hard that day that I was totally shaken. My parents had so many dreams for me. They wanted to see me get a good job and I had promised them to get a nice home from my salary. My whole support system- my parents- suddenly left the world. Those two days transformed me from a boy to a man. My relatives and friends helped me to get over the pain. After that incident, my perspective towards life changed. I started enjoying every small moment with people around me because you don’t know if you’ll see them again. It’s been a year since they are no more and now I am much stronger with their blessings.
9. Till the third year of my engineering, I was clueless about my vision and goals. I used to blindly follow others without questioning. Fortunately, one event changed everything for me.
It was a cold December evening when I was walking in front of my house after a heavy meal. Suddenly, I heard a big sound from the road nearby. I ran towards it and was shocked to see what I saw. A fast-moving bus had crashed into a small auto. The driver was squeezed in his seat and a passenger was thrown away from the auto due to the impact. People gathered around the scene but no one did anything. Moving towards the auto, I asked a person to call 108. Meanwhile, I rushed to the auto and had a closer look at the driver. He was still breathing but was soaked in blood. I called others for help to remove him from the auto as the glass of the window was still on him. We took him out and placed him on the road. I was informed that the ambulance service is not available at that particular moment.
Doctors confirmed that he was brought dead. This was the first time I had seen death so closely. I felt the pain of his family members. I believe that life is not just about one person, it’s all connected. You are a part of sacred human thread. That moment taught me the value of life. I changed myself, stopped my GATE preparation and began preparing for Civils to serve the society. Now, I also donate blood regularly, visit an orphanage and try to help as many people as I can.
10. I was in 12th standard (science stream) and had scored good marks in 10th. During 12th standard, I made new friends. They were all from wealthy families compared to mine.
They were fun loving and used to bunk classes, go for movies and spend their tuition fee on their girlfriends. Being in their company affected me and I began doing the same. Result? I failed in my 12th standard bards.
Later, I not only passed my 12th standard exams, but also graduated with distinction and got a gold medal in MBA for the best performance.
All images designed by Utkarsh Tyagi.