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There are a handful of brief points in life when time seems to stand still, and the decision you make right there and then has the power to fundamentally change your future for better or for worse. In some cases, your quick reaction can save your life. A stroke of luck or listening to your intuition can protect you from the worst.
We’ve collected some internet users’ stories from a powerful online thread where they shared how key actions and listening to their gut helped them avoid disaster. Scroll down to read them and for a reminder that every tiny little thing that you do really does matter.
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#1
Not taking that pill. And then decided to quit all d***s. 🤞🏽🙏🏽 two months sober.
RELATED:
#2
My son is a lifeguard. One of the girls in the pool got a suddenly intense headache. He sat her down and looked her over. There was fluid coming out of her ear. He put her on a spinal board just to be on the safe side, and called emergency. He found out later that the fluid leaking from her ear was spinal fluid she'd had a rupture of some sort that caused her spinal fluid to leak out her ear. If he hadn't spotted that, she would have died later that day.
#3
I’m here today because I woke up late on Sept. 11th and decided not to go into work.
If there's anything we've learned over all these years, it's that it's important to listen to your gut. Your instincts are often right about something being wrong. When there's a sudden, dangerous situation, many of us can barely think straight, so we rely on our subconscious. When it comes to making long-term strategic decisions, however, there's more room for thought.
The Harvard Business Review explains that the average adult makes anywhere between 33,000 to 35,000 total decisions each day. Now, this might be stating the obvious, but that’s a lot of them! These decisions range to everything from what clothes you’ll wear and what you’ll eat that day to what you’ll say and what tone you’ll use.
According to Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman, the vast majority (95%) of our cognition occurs in the subconscious mind. In other words, we’re making most of these decisions automatically based on our past experience of what is good for us and what isn’t. One issue is that when you let your subconscious make so many decisions, you’re running on ‘autopilot mode’, and you may miss out on opportunities to do better in life.
#4
I went to ride my bike and almost forgot my helmet, I honestly debated grabbing it since I was only planning on doing a few miles; last minute I decided I might as well have it and then half a mile out I got hit by a car. Helmet was busted as hell but other than a concussion I was fine.
#5
I woke up in the middle of the night because of a voice in my head yelling at me, telling me to lock a nearby door. I reluctantly got up, locked the door then fell back asleep immediately. About 30 minutes later somebody tried breaking in.
LGBTQpanda 4 days ago
Listen to your inner voice. Even if folks think it's paranoia. Better Safe than Dead. ⚠
#6
Grabbing a middle schooler's backpack as she was about to cross without looking and staying on the sidewalk instead of crossing the road. (I was in high school at the time)
The reason?
The red car that had almost ran me over a few weeks before was barrelling down the street at high speed.
Car zooms past at the moment the kid and myself would have been in the middle of the road.
Same driver. I recognized the shade of blonde hair.
As per the Harvard Business Review, journaling—physically writing down your thoughts—can help you make more balanced decisions because you’re engaging both sides of your brain. “This benefits you in two ways: your logical, rational side is employed so that your feelings can’t exclusively run the show, and your creative and imaginative side is employed so that you can see beyond black-and-white, limiting thinking,” Amanda Reill writes.
The important thing when making big decisions like whether to change jobs or move cities is to be very honest with yourself. You need to go beyond just the pros and cons and really look into what your core wants and needs in life are, what (ir)rational fears you might have, and what real or imagined challenges might be stopping you from taking the leap.
#7
Previously I was a biker. I'm sure you all know the risks. One time it was any other day riding to work. I pull up to the lights and check the car next to me. Girl mid 20s on her phone - revved my engine to get her to look at me. She doesn't. She proceeds to go straight on into my lane.
I had planned for this. Half the reason I don't ride now is other people being morons.
Green Tree 5 days ago
old biker friend once told me "there are two kinds of bikers, those who have been in an accident and those you have not, yet"
#8
English is not my first language, sorry if I make some mistakes.
My friend and I were chilling at a skate park. There was a Basketball hoop made out of stone. I was sitting right underneath that hoop. Suddenly I got the urge to stand up, Seconds later this massive thing came crashing down where I sat seconds before.
I didn't comprehend it in that moment but I often think about it from time to time and a shiver goes down my spine.. my friend was scared as f**k..
#9
Driving 80 miles per hour on a lonely interstate in the middle of the night. Decided to change lanes for no reason, and ended up missing a crumpled car in the middle of the lane I just left. It looked like a professionally crushed car that had fallen off of a truck. No light lenses or reflectors.
Paul C. 4 days ago
In the 80's I was driving home from a London concert to the south coast at about 2 in the morning. Doing about 70mph on the A24 at Leatherhead and thought what if an animal was to run out. Immediately slowed to about 35 and a Deer bounded across the road. I braked slightly and carried on, one of my sleeping mates said, why did you brake, I said, don't worry about it, go back to sleep.
In the meantime, Verywell Mind points out that the key to making good decisions, solving big problems, and living your best life comes down to developing lots of small, interconnected habits. For example, you should try to gauge whether you’re too overconfident in life so that you don’t overestimate your abilities.
You should also take the time to evaluate the risks you do (or don’t!) take in life and how things can go wrong. Meanwhile, you should also get into the habit of reframing problems in a way that helps you find solutions, take breaks to let your mind rest, consider your biases, and reflect on your past mistakes. It’s also helpful if you’re aware of and clearly label the emotions that you feel and how they can affect your choices.
And, at the end of the day, it’s never a mistake to treat yourself with kindness. You could, for instance, consider how you’d advise a close friend to tackle the same issues that you’re up against. This should help you be more objective and take a lot of your emotions out of the equation.
#10
Years ago, I parallel parked my car on a busy street in Hollywood where I lived at the time. The street was on a hill and my car was parked on the downhill side of traffic a couple hundred feet from a blind curve in the road. I checked for cars and got out of the driver's side of the car, being careful not to step too far in the street. There were no cars going by at the time.
Suddenly, a voice inside my head shouted "FREEZE!!! DON'T MOVE!!!" I instinctually froze and pressed myself up against my car even though I had no idea why. Out of nowhere a large city bus came barreling around the curve going at least 60mph and missed hitting me by just a couple inches. I can still feel the wind from the bus on the back of my neck at it blew past me. If I had taken just half a step back to lock my car door, I would have been flattened and that would have been it.
Even worse, my future husband was with me and would have witnessed it all. It still shakes him up to think about how close he came to losing me that day.
Crikey! (ho/hum) 5 days ago
Did you get a look at the driver? Was it Sandra Bullock? I bet it was. With Keanu.
#11
Was in a bombing. Knelt down to sign something when the detonation happened. Glass shards were a hair away from ki**ling me. The person who gave me the paper to sign technically saved me, they’re fine too.
Phoebe Bean 3 days ago
Forgive me if I do not understand the context here. A bombing? Signing a paper? Was this an building being imploded?
#12
I got a couple, but I'll go for the biggest one.
Fell snowboarding, and had a splitting 'migraine' the next day. Went to the GP, deciding after a night without sleep it was worth the early phonecall and appointment. He took one look at me and proceeded to give me a course of oral steroids and schedule an MRI. I was completely dissociated, just kinda thought maybe he was looking to see if I'd twinged my neck.
Damage **at C1**. For context, C1 is your first vertebrae at the base of your skull and by damage I'm referring to spinal cord damage. A very small lesion and some swelling which was now being treated by the oral steroids course. After the course, another MRI showed the area of damage more clearly - I also now had a severe movement disorder, and minor issues with my breathing alongside chronic neuroinflammation which would eventually result in another lesion (C5/6) that hit 4 years later, paralysing me.
BUT if my GP hadn't seen fit to prescribe outside of his remit and give me those initial steroids there is no telling if that C1 lesion could have enlarged and just straight up k**led me at 21. My neurologist tells me that he did possibly save my life that day.
BookFanatic 4 days ago
A good friend of mine fell backwards off a chair and smacked her head against a metal bedframe. Thought she was fine until she passed out cold at dinner. Turns out she had a brain bleed and needed emergency surgery. She's fine now, but if one of us falls her first words are "Did you hit your head? Are you sure?" Always, always, always, go to a doctor if you hit your head.
What are some deeply intuitive or split-second decisions that you’ve ever had to make that completely changed the course of your life, dear Pandas? Have there been moments where you (accidentally or otherwise) avoided major catastrophes?
What were the best decisions that you made without fully understanding why you made them? We’d love to hear all about your experiences, so feel free to write your thoughts in the comments below.
#13
Deciding to go to A&E over the "gas pains" in my abdomen instead of going to sleep (I was already in bed).
Appendix was about to blow by the time the surgeon got to it that same night.
I remembered something specifically about looking out for pain when you lift your left leg, and since healthcare is free here, decided not to chance it despite the symptoms being relatively mild.
Multa Nocte 5 days ago
"since healthcare is free here, decided not to chance it despite the symptoms being relatively mild" - one of the saddest things I've ever read, but true.
#14
When I was in 9th grade I was walking to church on Sunday morning. My friends stopped and asked if I wanted to go riding with them. I thought about going but something stopped me from getting in the car. Later that afternoon 2 of my friends in the car died in an accident.
MagicJacket 4 days ago
In the 80s was invited to go with some friends to go T-Tracking, which is using CB radio to try to find your friend based on their radio signal strength or something. I decided to decline and stay with some other friends and party. Three of my friends went into the hills around town and a drunk driver in a big pickup without his lights on, slammed right into the passenger side of the car. Two of my friends were in the back seats and got moderate injuries. My best friend was in the driver's seat and was critically injured but survived. No one was in the front passenger seat, and it was completely demolished. If someone had been sitting there, they would have been pulverized. I think to this day I would probably have been sitting in that seat had I chosen to go with them.
#15
When I was 9 I loved sleeping in my older brothers water bed upstairs when he decided to live with my dad instead. One cold January night I decided against it for some reason. I ended up sleeping in my own bed downstairs. A massive earthquake hit in the middle of the night and the headboard with tons of shelves on it ended up crashing down onto my brothers water bed. I would have been seriously injured if I had been sleeping in that bed that night!
Clown fish 4 days ago (edited)
I was meant to go into Manchester (UK) on the 15th of June 1996 but my friend was late getting to mine by an hour. At 10:40 am the IRA bomb was detonated by robot trying to defuse it
#16
A bit of a story, but here goes.
Back in 2020, I was in an a*****e relationship. Not so much direct physical violent (although that was there); instead, it was constant mental and emotional abuse with some sexual a*****t thrown in. This was particularly damaging as I struggle with mental health. To be honest, I was contemplating ending my life for most of the last 6 or so months her and I were together. One day, her and I had a MASSIVE fight that ultimately ended the relationship.
Her and I ended up splitting up during quarantine, roughly around mid April. Most of the people I was close to were immunocompromised, some lived states away, and the rest just weren’t good for me to be around in my fragile mental state. Aside from a few nights at a hotel I was gifted from my parents (one who lived 15 hours away, the other one is badly immunocompromised), I slept in the bathroom at work. She (and whatever flavor of the week she was dating) continued to harass me, call my work, call my parents, and (later, during summer) somehow found the contact information of a girl I had just begun dating and began harassing her as well.
While I am eternally thankful for my boss giving me shelter *and* giving me an air mattress, it was so incredibly lonely in that bathroom. I remember hugging a pillow and convincing myself, through tears, that the pillow was my friend and that I wasn’t alone. I spent my birthday, which falls towards the end of April, alone in a grocery store parking lot bawling my eyes out. Never in my life was I so desperate for a hug.
After a couple months of this, my mother found me a new apartment. Quarantine restrictions had JUST lifted in my state (I live in SE Wisconsin). While I still had to keep a massive amount of distance from my mother, it was still nice to see someone who actually liked me.
As a bit of background, I am very interested in meteorology. I love stormchasing and dream of making a career of it, or anything related to meteorology for that matter. I had not chased a single storm for over a year, for obvious reasons. The week I moved in, I saw on my weather app that there was a storm scheduled to hit about two hours or so away during the weekend. I went and chased it, and, for the first time in years, I started to recognize the reflection in the mirror.
A week later on Friday, I realized that I badly wanted to chase another storm. So, I began checking my weather apps. Nowhere in Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, etc was forecasted to even have rain. So, in desperation, I dug deeper and found that there, in fact, was going to be a storm. Issue was, it was all the way near Rapid City, SD. Eleven to twelve hours away from me.
I decided at noon on Friday that, once I got off at 6:30, I would pack a bag, eat dinner, talk to a couple friends, and then take off to South Dakota, driving through the night. I had never been to South Dakota nor traveled by myself, and I had never driven through the night before. But, screw it, what do I have to lose?
I was in southern Minnesota on I-90 around 4AM, about to break the South Dakota border. I was exhausted, losing strength, and about ready to give up. I tried to check into a hotel, only to find that I had forgotten my cards at home and that the hotel did not take Apple Pay. Regardless, something told me to keep going. Something told me everything would be okay. So, I plodded on into South Dakota.
Then I saw the sunrise. That sunrise was the light at the end of the tunnel. It was a beacon of hope that my past tried to convince me no longer existed. That sunrise told me that the excruciating pain, loneliness, and s******l ideations were temporary. It was then that I learned everything was going to be okay.
I still remember audibly screaming “I can’t believe I’m actually doing this! I’m actually doing this!”. It was always my dream to travel the country to chase storms. I turned the nightmare I was living into the dream I always wished for. I took so many pictures, videos, live streamed both chases (two for one weekend!), took in the alien landscape I found myself in, and finally felt human again.
Not only was I free, I actually believed it too. Ever since then, although I still struggle with mental health, I have a new purpose. The driver’s seat became my home, the open road became my best friend, and the sun became my wife. I didn’t care if she wasn’t human. The warmth, guidance, and support was all I ever wanted in marriage. The unlovable, burdensome, and ugly man turned into mother nature’s devoted husband. I finally found love.
Ever since then, I have continued to regularly travel the country on a whim. I have chased storms in Kansas, tasted wine in California, got lost in the desert in Arizona, saw the rocky mountains for the first time, walked along both coasts, went to the beach in Florida, and so much more. I ended up driving to every state in the lower 48 that summer (took three months) AND doing something in each one.
The decision to chase my dreams saved me from ending my own life. All I had to do was see the sun.
Tempest 4 days ago (edited)
Lovely read! I can relate with OP to some extent. Was suïcidal aged 11/12 years but some part of me that still had a glimmer of hope promised me that once I graduate school and leave home, everything will be alright. Idk where that hope strung from cause I was already writing out my suícide note at the time, but I started excitedly counting down the years until I can leave home. I’ve always wanted to migrate to this one country and pretty much start over and so that’s the promise I gave myself. It didn’t work out as planned and many a time I felt as I lied to myself, but it was that one promise, true or not, which saved my life back then. I’m so close to achieving this dream and I’ve worked so hard to achieve it ever since, but no one knows the real reason why.
#17
Fell asleep at the wheel, woke up and corrected my steering without panicking.
Drowsy driving is just as dangerous as drunk driving. Never again !
Big Chungus 4 days ago
What is nice is that some of the newer cars (mine has this feature) will actually set off an alert if it suspects you are not looking forward. One time I was driving and I was slowly stopping at a red like but also looked down for a bit (no one was around me). My car alert went off scared me half To death. It suggested I take a coffee break
#18
I was in high school, and driving home from a robotics team party when it felt like instinct took over, and I slammed the brakes from 50 mph. A car plowed through the intersection in front of me, hit a curb, and left with a drunken weave. I realized that if I hadn't stopped, I likely would have gotten hit. At that point I found the nearest parking lot, and had a panic attack for an hour before driving to my parents.
Crikey! (ho/hum) 5 days ago
I'm fairly sure that whatever a 'robotics team party' is, it isn't what my stupid faulty mind conjured up.
#19
When I was in my early 20's I was working with a company laying deep services for new neighborhoods. In the winter, at the end of the day, the laborer crew would spend a few minutes scraping mud off the excavator tracks.
One day I was in between the two tracks scrapping away mud. Suddenly, my colleagues are shouting (almost screaming) my name. Although I didn't see it, it instantly occurred to me that they would only be that terrified if the excavator was still in motion and I was about to be pinned between the rear counterweight and the track.
I dropped to my knees and rolled away with less than a second to spare. The rear of the excavator swung across where I had just been standing. Had I been any later, I'd have been cut in half.
The operator had thought we were done. We didn't mention it to anyone... you know how you are at that age.
Once in a while I still think about it. Scary stuff.
#20
Nowhere near as extreme as some of these, but I used to go for walks in a nature park right behind my neighborhood, usually with headphones. On one such walk, I happened to look down to see the foot I was currently stepping with was about 6 inches from coming down on a diamondback rattlesnake. It was arched back, ready to strike, rattle going, but I couldn't hear it over my music. Leapt back immediately and walked around it without issue, but holy c**p, it gets my heart going just thinking about it.
#21
Riding my bike from Uni in the dark, and as I passed a silouhete of a person on the edge of the path, I stood up on the pedals. They struck me with a bat, landing the blow on my biceps. I was able to keep my balance/grip on the bars and ride through it.
Staying seated on that bike would have been my face meeting that bat. Plus, who knows what to follow on tbe ground.
#22
I was caught in a bar brawl. Tumbled to the bottom of a crowd and was pressed to the floor when some psycho was on my back choking me. Couldn't move and couldn't breathe. I thought that was it. I was gonna die on the floor of a New Jersey nightclub. Suddenly I remembered a move my wrestling coach taught us to break grips. I found his thumb, folded it like a fist and squeezed as hard as I could. It c*****d like a stick. I could hear him scream in my ear and he hopped off. I pushed up and swung my way out. I was choked so hard that both of my eyes were full blood red, no whites and I cracked a molar. That was a close one and who knows what would have happened if I didn't recall that one random move or if I never wrestled to begin with. Scary.
#23
Realizing that me being gone would have long-lasting effects on everyone that knew me.
At the time, I had just returned from living overseas with my parents to being back Stateside living with my brother, who was living with his wife while they were still dating.
The first month was fine, but then she started to open up about her myriad problems with me. It got to the point where we would constantly be getting into arguments. The problem was, I wasn't working and I was only going to community college--my brother was my only option for housing; he knew that, she didn't. But it then caused them to have arguments frequently.
I would wake up most mornings to listen to her complaining about everything to friends or family over the phone--I was sleeping on their futon in the living room.
One of these conversations, she made it clear that when they do eventually get engaged that I wouldn't be invited to the wedding.
One morning, when both my brother and her were out of the house, I went into his closet to find his pistol. I was kneeling there staring at it for a long, long time. My body compelled me to bring the barrel up against my chin.
I never pulled the trigger. I put the gun back where I found it, called my dad in tears. To this day I never told my brother that I was on the verge of s*****e because I thought in that moment it would make things better for him to not have to worry about me, anymore.
Magenta Blu 5 days ago
The only reason why I don't do this is because I can't make my daughters go through the aftermath. My mother (with whom I had a very bad relationship) k1ll3d herself when I was pregnant, so I would never ever make my girls go through the same I did. But the thought is always with me. every morning I have to open my eyes and it never ends.. what a punishment
#24
Almost went to the midnight showing of The Dark Knight in Aurora, Colorado when and where the shooting happened. Changed our minds enroute because a friend called us and we had to turn back and get them.
Sara Frazer 5 days ago
Oof, I remember this happening and seeing news about it pop up almost in real time. I was a teenager, staying up all night online instead of sleeping. I'd be poking around on Gaia Online, Facebook, listening to music. I remember just slowly seeing more and more posts and articles about this horrible shóoting, and then videos. I only saw it once but still ingrained into my brain is a guy staggering out of the theatre in a daze, being guided by an officer, and his shirt was just soaked in blóod. I cried a lot that night
#25
I was driving on the highway on a dark moonless night. Suddenly with about 30 yards of distance, I saw 4 lines on the road in my headlights. I had about 1 extra second to swerve lanes after I realized it was a F*****G COW.
#26
I was in an accident back in 2008. I was going to college on my motorcycle (pretty common where I come from). It had just ended raining. I was about to overtake a vehicle when a tuktuk came out of nowhere from the street. Hit the break real hard but still rear tyres touched I was in air. That when it dawned on me that it is either my right arm or my head. Chose let my right arm get crushed and saved my skull. Properly healed on 50days. Have trouble writing with my right hand ever as I cannot handle pen properly. Learnt to write with my left hand and went on with my life.
Multa Nocte 5 days ago
It's funny how your brain can make that split second judgement. I fell backwards down a hill once (I have osteoporosis) and I had to decide whether to land on my wrists or let my head hit first. Ended up with two broken wrists, but much preferable to a concussion.
#27
I was carried away by a current while swimming at a beach. The beach was protected by a rock formation but I stupidly swam past it and I was swept away. The rest of the coastline was more or less a sheer rock cliff. I managed to spot a very tiny spot that I could swim ashore to but the waves kept throwing me against rocks that sat just below the surface. I decided to try to swim ashore by grabbing onto the rocks between waves and to hold on for dear life as the waves came over me so that I don't end up like shredded cheese. I managed to get to shore and I later realised that if I hadn't done exactly what I did I'd be dead.
#28
Step on the brakes for no reason other than a bad feeling in the midle off the street, sudently two Cars racing pass on the next corner with no head lights.
#29
Maybe not died but been serious injured and facially disfigured.
Rescue dog for some reason freaked out and attacked me. Right before it happened I sat up and gently pushed his face away from mine (he had been whining and trying to lick at my face while I was stretched out on the couch). Some instinct told me to sit up and push his face away and do it now.
Ended up with a huge hole in my arm and he kept coming trying to take me down. If my husband hadn't been there the dog would have kept going til he got me down and kept me there.
#30
I made a horrible decision to intervene in parking lot machine robbery.
As I was at the caged gate of the parking lot he swung his crowbar at me. Somehow I moved in the right way to avoid his strikes. I still don’t know how his crowbar didn’t hit me. He also screamed like a gorilla. But I didn’t die that night. And I was very close to it. Never felt so stupid and also so relieved he didn’t tag me. H****n is bad kids. It will make you a coin robber who almost became a m******r for like 8 dollars in coins.
What do you think ?
Nils Skirnir 5 days ago (edited)
These stories are interesting, but folks putting too much stock in providence get on my nerves. We obviously never hear from the folks who made a decision to go to the fatal event. What about their providence?
Colin Matthews 5 days ago (edited)
I live in rural Australia on a bush land property. Was clearing away some old weed matting, when I glanced over at my noisy dog instead of just reaching for the next handful. As I looked down I realised I had just been about to grab quite a good sized Eastern Brown Snake. Where I live, the ambulance may/ may not get to you in time. Pretty close...
Romy Rösli 5 days ago
I was hiking late in the evening. At some point the trail crossed a cow’s pasture. Nothing special in my country. I had crossed pastures many times before. There was a small group of cows close to the trail. I passed them and when they were all behind me I suddenly felt the urge to look back. I did and saw the cows starting to run towards me. I panicked and ran as fast as I could to the fence and jumped over it. The cows stopped a few meters away. Someone told me the cows might have been just curious but we don’t know what they were up to.
Nils Skirnir 5 days ago (edited)
These stories are interesting, but folks putting too much stock in providence get on my nerves. We obviously never hear from the folks who made a decision to go to the fatal event. What about their providence?
Colin Matthews 5 days ago (edited)
I live in rural Australia on a bush land property. Was clearing away some old weed matting, when I glanced over at my noisy dog instead of just reaching for the next handful. As I looked down I realised I had just been about to grab quite a good sized Eastern Brown Snake. Where I live, the ambulance may/ may not get to you in time. Pretty close...
Romy Rösli 5 days ago
I was hiking late in the evening. At some point the trail crossed a cow’s pasture. Nothing special in my country. I had crossed pastures many times before. There was a small group of cows close to the trail. I passed them and when they were all behind me I suddenly felt the urge to look back. I did and saw the cows starting to run towards me. I panicked and ran as fast as I could to the fence and jumped over it. The cows stopped a few meters away. Someone told me the cows might have been just curious but we don’t know what they were up to.
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