How about getting a job, or cast intoa role or acceptance into a school or,etc. …
There are just no correcting all errors on the internet,
It’s great that you and your D have figured out how to work through the challenges and continued moving forward, @bajamm. Congrats and good luck to your D in med school. They certainly can use more good docs, especially lung docs, if she’s interested in that.
sorry to post another ‘negative’ life-changing experience, but since you asked…
last month, our child attempted suicide. hard for me to even write about it. 10th grader. talk about life changing…outlook on everything is different…world now revolves around therapists and appointments and constant worry.
I don’t want this to be a total downer…our child seems to be doing better these days and we are considering new school situation. but yes, life changing to the max…
“We think your son is on the verge of a psychotic break.” That phone call changed my life forever.
“Your nephew died by suicide yesterday.” That phone call changed the life of everyone in my family forever.
I’m so sorry, @pickpocket.
Moving from Portland, OR to Seoul 14 years ago was a pretty big change that has been very good for me.
@HImom I still get nervous everything she flies. The same air pressure changes that make our ears pop could make her lung pop. And, she flies ALOT. I have learned to bite my tongue and let her live her life.
She wants to be a pediatrician, then add a specialty. It will likely be pulmonology, though psychiatry has been mentioned.
And, maybe that’s the positive in our life changing events. She would never have known the need for pediatric specialists without her particular issues.
Two life-changing events for me: my father dying unexpectedly at age 55 (when I was still in grad school and not yet married) and my daughter being diagnosed with autism at age 2.5 (she’s 18 now).
@bajamm, pulmonology is a field dear to my heart, H, my kids and I have asthma, as does 10% of our state. Pediatric pulmonologists are fairly uncommon but very important. I’ve gotten to know quite a few pulmonologidtd in the US and around the world.
I know you’re nervous but I’m sure she stays as safe as she knows how. It’s great that you aren’t wrapping her in a bubble and allowing her to live her life.
Nowhere near as life altering as the hard things people have posted, but my first time living outside of the USA was life altering.
Also, the first time I realized that the textbook I was reading was impenetrable by my brain. That was life altering. And humbling 
One life altering experience was finding how life can abruptly end as an 11 year old 7th grader after hearing an elementary school friend was caught in a crossfire between two rival drug gangs while walking home from a nearby junior high school and attending his funeral. That could have easily been me if I had not been selected to attend different junior high school outside the neighborhood.
I think all of our lives have been changed by births and deaths and serious illnesses in either ourselves or those close to us. I think it is more interesting to think about the smaller, quirkier things that have changed our lives, even if just incrementally.
Along those lines, I can truly say that this book changed my life, by totally changing the way I looked at nature:
The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies, by Bert Holldobler and EO Wilson
Interesting, @nottelling, I’m going to check it out. I used to take books about insects out of the library when I was in High School.
This is going to sound very silly, but I can honestly say that this little 2-minute Youtube video changed my life by changing the way I looked at plants.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fGBIT4ly-Vs
(The actual clip that changed my life was longer, about five minutes, but I can’t find it).
It is a clip from the Discovery channel about creeper vines in the rain forest that features stop motion video footage showing the motion of creeper vines as they climb up trees in the rainforest toward the light. Again, it is one of those little things that slightly changed my view of the world around me in profound ways.
Again, I know this sounds ridiculous but it is true!
That is a pretty cool video! It definitely does make one think differently and plants, and about time scales.
My life changing event was finding out my child is deaf. I think it made me a different person in some ways with different priorities.
A weirdly quiet interior moment in my life, but it did change me. A few years ago my family was spread out all over the world, in places and for reasons I had no control over. One was in an actual dangerous place, one was in a very third world country, and one was vagabonding through multiple countries. I had no way to immediately contact any of them if needed. I felt very alone and I was having a “moment”, fretting about all the things that could happen while we were all spread out across the world. Nothing bad had actually happened, but I was fearing the unknown and the loss of control. A “Help me get through this” mantra was running through my head.
A Springsteen song, “Livin in the Future”, started playing on the radio, followed by “Home” by Phillip Phillips. Let’s face it, this is a strange double play that will probably never be repeated on FM radio in my lifetime! But the lyrics spoke to me and it made a difference. I calmed down, and haven’t ever felt that “I can’t control this” panicky fear since then.
“Don’t worry darlin’
No baby, don’t you fret
We’re livin’ in the future
And none of this has happened yet…”
“Settle down, it’ll all be clear
Don’t pay no mind to the demons
They fill you with fear
The trouble it might drag you down
If you get lost you can always be found…”
Buying our first house last year. We had lived in an apartment for 6 years prior to moving into the house to save up for the down payment. Towards the end of our time there, everything in the apartment was starting to fail: ac/heater, dishwasher, door locks/handles, etc. The landlord refused to fix anything unless it was literally falling apart. The heater broke in the middle of winter, 1 week before we moved out. Needless to say, having our own house now is simply awesome, and it’s a new house so everything works perfectly. I feel much more connected to the community, and enjoy the space and privacy. I don’t think I could ever live in an apartment again!
I feel like I’ve had a life changing experience. About 10 years ago my family and I were deep in the depths of dealing with suicide attempts, psychiatric hospital stays and addiction. I found my way to Al Anon and it changed my life. I worked through the steps and discovered so much about myself and my family of origin. I feel like I finally grew up at age 50. I let go of my feeling of being responsible for everyone and their happiness. I think I became a better friend, sibling, spouse and parent. I learned how to communicate as did many of my family members. It was absolutely the most terrifying period of my life but much good has come from the experience. My family member who we all thought would die is now 8 yrs in recovery. I credit Al Anon with changing my life.
Multiple life-changing experiences, some happy events, some pretty traumatic: going to college and meeting others who were hungry for science and engineering understanding (my family was full of writers and artists). My father’s death (at 70) when I was 23. Discovering the lies my first husband had told me (which is why I got divorced). The birth of my daughter. The birth of my twin sons and the death two days later of one of my sons. My husband’s cancer (in remission for 15 years now). My own cancer (considered cured for more than 9 years now).
I think it’s very easy to look at other peoples’ lives and think their lives have not had much in the way of life-changing experiences–but I’ve found, over the years, that EVERYONE has had something that changed them, usually very deeply.