Experiences that really, deeply changed you

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Replies

  • vtmoon
    vtmoon Posts: 3,436 Member
    Sleeping with that hooker in Amsterdam, regular everyday women just don't do those things.
  • ruth3698
    ruth3698 Posts: 305 Member
    *Having to live with a brother who was diagnosed as schizo affective when he was 15,the stuff I had to go through
    *Becoming an Atheist
    * Finally breaking free from my family's control when I was 24
    * Having to fit experiences dealing with men,sex and friendships in a space of a couple of years after breaking free
    * Having my kids,best thing that ever happened to me,changed my whole outlook on life and wanting to be a better person

    There was some other things that way too private to put on here,but I look at every experience as a lesson to teach my girls to try and save them some pain in later years.
  • mestacy010
    mestacy010 Posts: 577 Member
    Brother passed away

    My first and only love cheated on me. Met him when I was 17. First man I ever dated, slept with, even kissed.

    Becoming a single mother at 23....
  • ayerg
    ayerg Posts: 33
    My 3 kids.

    All 3 of them fall somewhere on the autism spectrum. Two of them are my biological kids and one is a foster son that we adopted. They are all so different and are completely amazing. They've taught me to see each person for who he or she is and to appreciate even the smallest of steps when reaching for a goal.
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
    Anytime I hang out with my niece, it always really changes me...always for the better. I remember the joys and how simply things were and I try to get that back in my life every day as an adult.

    My journey over the last 15-16 months. Losing weight, changing my life, doing it for me, making it an actually lifestyle change, getting my head together and straight (had major survivors guilt from car accident that killed my father when I was 9 and I lived - obviously because I'm typing this or that'd be kinda creepy...) With the weight journey, and the emotional journey and pulling myself out of a deep 5-10 year depression...and finally realizing just how strong, awesome and kickass I am...and just how much I deserve this...
  • Amandamaezing
    Amandamaezing Posts: 57 Member
    Moving half way across the country in middle school was rough. From middle school until about my junior year of high school I was made fun of A LOT. To this day I still find it hard to accept compliments without thinking that there is sarcasm or some kind of joke involved.

    Spending a semester abroad. Proved to myself that I could be independent! I have an identical twin so I hadn't had many opportunities to be on my own.

    Coming to terms with the fact that my parents and brother are addicts. I always knew, but never knew how much it bothered me until I started an internship in a treatment center. I've now worked there as a counselor for three years and am completely okay with my upbringing even if it wasn't ideal in the eyes of others, I've done the best I could with what I had and I like how I am today.
  • RaggedyPond
    RaggedyPond Posts: 1,487 Member
    When I was like 10, I was alone at home (normal thing to do back home as we mature fairly fast). I heard somebody breaking the window glass and trying to run after me. I took off and ran out the door screaming to the neighbors home. The person who broke in took off.

    Police came and did a search. They saw something on the floor during their search and gave it to my parents. My parents seemed mortified after seeing whatever was given to them. They hugged me tightly. I didn't said anything.

    After a week or 2 I got the courage to ask them what was it. After discussing privately my parents decided that its best I know so I can keep better alert. They showed me a picture of me taken from my bedroom closet while I was sleeping.


    I just got the shivers.
  • RaggedyPond
    RaggedyPond Posts: 1,487 Member
    I was horribly bullied by almost everyone in my class but usually the same 4 boys. I learned early that telling the teacher doesn't matter after I was told that "nobody likes a tattletale."

    It has been quite a few years now since I have seen any of them but I am still angry about it and would have no hesitation if I had the chance to push them in front of a car.
  • Amandamaezing
    Amandamaezing Posts: 57 Member
    I too hold resentments to mainly the girls that were terrible to me. The girl that asked to sign my year boom and then wrote terrible nasty things every page. The that girl spit on me once for having an Adidas shirt from shopko. Who ever it was that taped signs to my locker.

    I see one them fairly often as she works at a gas station I go to. She now compliments my shoes or asks questions like she cares and I'm always a total jerk to her. Her life also appears to be going nowhere, which pleases me.
  • RaggedyPond
    RaggedyPond Posts: 1,487 Member
    LOL good for you :)

    Mine took turns blowing in my hair (to this day I still don't know wtf was so funny about it), making farting noises behind me, flicking boogers at me. A couple girls called me "bush wolf" because I was not allowed to get a hair straightener.

    Not that I approve but I can see why high school violence happens. Clearly the teachers are seeing this but they still choose to sit these boys behind me in every damn class.
  • celadontea
    celadontea Posts: 335 Member
    Psychotherapy
  • anemoneprose
    anemoneprose Posts: 1,805 Member

    -I once had a girlfriend who made a fight with me almost every day. She was not the quiet typ, so she shouted like crazy, throwing things, had a big rage. This relationship lasted more then 4 years. Untill now, almost 25 years later, I cannot have screaming people around me.

    god, yes. same. can't deal with it. now i just leave the room if someone's going off. i don't even like heated debates at the pub anymore.

    the silver lining to longish crazy relationships is, they burn off whatever mundane anxieties you had before, and make you freaking grateful for every nice day after that.
  • Amandamaezing
    Amandamaezing Posts: 57 Member
    Psychotherapy

    Is this what changed you or are you suggesting baby and I participate in therapy :/ haha
  • RaggedyPond
    RaggedyPond Posts: 1,487 Member
    I did get therapy lol
  • -Growing up in an abusive household with an alcoholic/drug addict mom & drug addict step dad.
    -Being sexually abused as a child.
    -Being sexually assaulted as a teen.
    -Finding out I was pregnant at 16.
    -Getting my GED
    -Buying my own car
    -Working a full time job until the day before my delivery.
    -Becoming a teen mom.
    -Learning my estranged father died. Someone who I had been trying to contact, but never had the chance to say goodbye.
    -Having my 2 other children.
    -Leaving an abusive relationship of 5 years.
    -Attending college.
    -Meeting my the love of my life!
  • Cheechos
    Cheechos Posts: 293
    Wow okay all of you are beautiful and strong and amazing I read all of your stories and I am seriously touched by how some of you had to pull through some awful (and scary) things. ♥

    Smallish list for me:

    1) Being bullied and abused at an early age. Elementary school was pretty much a time when I had no safe place to go. Both school and home were bad places for me.
    2) The first time I went "too far" in an argument with my sister. I realized then that there are things you shouldn't say or do to another person, no matter how upset you are.
    3) My first relationship. I was a wary, secluded teenager by then and honestly wondered if men had emotions at all (most of the abuse and bullying I'd been subjected to had been at the hands of my stepfather and male classmates). My first boyfriend changed all of that by being amazingly loving and supportive.
    4) The first time I moved away from home. I came to the harsh realization that I wasn't simply shy; I had social anxiety. This kept me from getting a job and sent me back home to seek help.
    5) Getting therapy. I learned a lot about myself, gained confidence, and am moving towards recovery for my anxiety.
    6) Going to college. Now that I'm out of high school, I'm becoming a better student, learning more about the world than I ever have, and feeling like I'm actually going somewhere with my life.
  • •Being abused by my first girlfriend, at fourteen years old. ****ing bull****, that was.

    •Leaving school in ninth grade and taking home instruction for four months. It was the most informative and liberating experience of my life.

    •Becoming a legitimately published author. I still can't believe it sometimes, but having that validation makes me feel fantastic on my crappier days.
  • When I was like 10, I was alone at home (normal thing to do back home as we mature fairly fast). I heard somebody breaking the window glass and trying to run after me. I took off and ran out the door screaming to the neighbors home. The person who broke in took off.

    Police came and did a search. They saw something on the floor during their search and gave it to my parents. My parents seemed mortified after seeing whatever was given to them. They hugged me tightly. I didn't said anything.

    After a week or 2 I got the courage to ask them what was it. After discussing privately my parents decided that its best I know so I can keep better alert. They showed me a picture of me taken from my bedroom closet while I was sleeping.

    WOW! That is some really frightening stuff.
  • alliemarie77
    alliemarie77 Posts: 378 Member
    I lost my cousin who was 6 when I was 8. (He fell out of a tree) My kids were never allowed to climb trees.

    I am quiet when I first meet people and come across as a snob to most. This is from abuse I went through as a child.

    I have trust issues from the abuse also.

    My cousin committed suicide and I drove up on the wreck. I identified his body at the scene. (I had to be on anti-depressants for 4 yrs)

    The last year and a half of my life have been hell. I've really been through more than one person should have to deal with in a lifetime, and all of this is what really made me realize that I needed to take care of myself.
  • Allyoopadoop
    Allyoopadoop Posts: 30 Member

    - Survival School.

    SERE? Where'd you go?