Anyone here had a pivotal moment in their life that completely changed their trajectory?

[Sugarbush]

Me and my homeboi were coming from a house party late one night. I was reaching for my phone when my car swirved then got pulled over by the police. The cop asked me if I’d been drinking and made me take a breathalyzer. I wasn’t drunk at all, but I had one drink right before we left which was enough for me to fail the test.

The cop, who was black, made me get out the car, handcuffed me, and lectured me on why he was tired of seeing young black men in jail and didn’t want me to be another statistic. He let me off with a warning and let my man drive us home.

shyt changed my life forever. Had I got a DUI, it would’ve been damn near impossible for me to get accepted into any dental school or get a dental license.

A constant reminder on how the trajectory of your life can change in a split of a second

 

[Bop Gun]

Had 3.

- Family inheritance (Long story short, Grandma on my pops side left me her house in NC and a college fund when she died. I was 9. My Father R.I.P. succumbed to his demons and blew it)


- Wrote a book at 16. Received an offer from Chimera Publishing, contingent on signing off on some changes. Refused the offer, was insulted by the POS who thought I would be cool with said changes (similar to what happened to Gil Scott-Heron). Lost interest in writing ever since


- High School Sweetheart moved to Georgia for College on a full scholarship. Had to convince her to go but honestly wanted her to stay. As difficult as it was, we tried the long distance relationship for a couple of years until we decided it was just best to move on. Some years back her cousin contacted me on Facebook, showed me a picture of her family, the guy was the spitting image of myself. Her cousin saw my soon-to-be-wife, and couldn't believe the resemblance in both. You never realize how deeply someone can affect you

 

[staticshock]

Stepping off the bus at Parris Island.

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A group of us from Atlanta rode in a van from the A to Parris Island. We stopped to eat at a Golden Corral in Augusta I think. shyt was all normal like an every day thing. We met up with a charter bus full of folks from other parts of GA began the drive to SC. We was all joking on the bus and then we all got silent when we pulled up to the gates. A welcoming Drill Sergeant got on and told us to get the fukk off the bus & onto his yellow footprints..I’ll never experience something like that again in my life. Every single emotion humans can have came over me


That was my biggest life changing experience until my unit got sent to the Philippines in 2014 or 2015 to do a joint training mission with their military. They had us way up north in a fukkin valley surrounded by jungle and non active volcanos on the same island that Manila is on. We were in the boonies for real..no cell service, no running water or electricity till my platoon powered up the camp.

We had a 12 hour on/off duty..when I wasn’t on duty, I chopped it up with the locals. They set up a little bootleg ass market next to where we were staged at. These were the poorest folks I’ve ever seen in my life but they were all humble and kept a smile on their face & welcomed us with open arms.

Basketball is big out there & it was a run down goal in the village we were next to, and I played a game of 21 with some Philippine brehs who didn’t speak any English & they didn’t have any shoes. Whenever we got done on the firing ranges, they rushed down to where we were at after we left to pick up any shell casings so they could sell them from recycling or melt them down to form something else. It was like the damn Kentucky derby when they fire the gun to get the race started. Soon as the all clear sign was given about 120 folks just ran to where we were to pick up anything they could make a little money off of.

I was one of those “I’m from south Atlanta ain’t nothing tougher than that” dudes and thought my neighborhood back home was the world.
Going to a 3rd world country & seeing real poor folks who stayed in tin shacks with no running water or electricity really changed my life & it made me realize the world is bigger than my hood & that shyt didn’t mean anything at all outside of my block.

To this day I’m grateful for everything I have & put my all into whatever I’m doing because I know we have it lucky here in America and things could be 100 times worse.

 

[Uachet]

I've had many, but the most pivotal one that caused me to really focus on my life was this event.

I was out with my gangster uncle in the neighborhood that is surrounded by Slauson and Crenshaw. We were out talking to one of his homeboys (Rollin 60s) and just cutting jokes from what I remember. Well, we were not paying any attention evidently, because we did not notice anything was up until we heard some one in a van say, "It jammed" and skirted off. So I am of the opinion one of us could have been hit by something that night.

The rest of the night and next day at school, my mind was on that incident. While I was waiting on a bus to pick me up, I looked at myself in a car dealership's mirrored glass and made the vow at that moment that I need to change the direction of my life. I left L.A. for Baltimore (I was born in Baltimore) by middle of the Summer. My Step-Father tried to hinder me from going to be with my Grandmother, but my Mother, even in her haze of poor mental health, understood that I was making the right decision. I was 14 at the time of this event.

 

[LongLiveDET]

Arrested at 22 for hella moving violations being young and stupid. Only had 2 thoughts, how did I get there and how do I make sure I never go back.

Had a rule ever since, never get yourself in more trouble than you can get yourself out of.

 

[1thouwow]

Joined the military and was suppose to go straight to Japan. I got in trouble tho so I stayed state side

 

[africngiant]

Arrested at 22 for hella moving violations being young and stupid. Only had 2 thoughts, how did I get there and how do I make sure I never go back.

Had a rule ever since, never get yourself in more trouble than you can get yourself out of.

shyt like this is why i don’t go out while young dumb broads call me lame for not being in the mix

 

[africngiant]

as soon as i hit adulthood i kept getting in trouble so i just removed myself from the equation.

 

[Uachet]

as soon as i hit adulthood i kept getting in trouble so i just removed myself from the equation.

You have done what few seem to be able to do, realize that the nexus of the problem was you and your own actions and sought to rectify it. So I commend you.

 

[The Half-Blood FKA Prince]

Had 3.

- Family inheritance (Long story short, Grandma on my pops side left me her house in NC and a college fund when she died. I was 9. My Father R.I.P. succumbed to his demons and blew it)


- Wrote a book at 16. Received an offer from Chimera Publishing, contingent on signing off on some changes. Refused the offer, was insulted by the POS who thought I would be cool with said changes (similar to what happened to Gil Scott-Heron). Lost interest in writing ever since


- High School Sweetheart moved to Georgia for College on a full scholarship. Had to convince her to go but honestly wanted her to stay. As difficult as it was, we tried the long distance relationship for a couple of years until we decided it was just best to move on. Some years back her cousin contacted me on Facebook, showed me a picture of her family, the guy was the spitting image of myself. Her cousin saw my soon-to-be-wife, and couldn't believe the resemblance in both. You never realize how deeply someone can affect you

Got something in my eyeThese allergies a bytch.

 

[Manolo]

Was living foul as a kid. Got suspended like 15 times in middle school and almost expelled, arrested at 14, started trapping and knocked up my girl at 16. Had all the potential in the world and no direction. All the adults in my life including my moms gave up on me

Then one day I was riding a bike and got into a crazy accident with a city bus. I rode bikes all my life and never got into an accident or broke a bone before. Almost died, broke my shoulder, scarred my face, etc. Everybody I was hanging around switched up after the accident for whatever reason and my phone stopped ringing

During the next 6 months I was in recovery and isolation. I didn’t grow up religious and was never sure if I even believed in God but during this time I started praying. Realized how foul I was living and felt like God was trying to tell me something.

Turned my life around, graduated high school, went to college and never looked back. Til this day I credit that accident with saving my life. I don’t even call it an accident anymore, I call it an intervention

 

[↓R↑LYB]

I logged into a message board and told people I was on my 2nd Lambo.

I regret that decision

 

[Duke Wy Lin]

I logged into a message board and told people I was on my 2nd Lambo.

I regret that decision

What got you to pursue a career in IT breh?

 

[africngiant]

You have done what few seem to be able to do, realize that the nexus of the problem was you and your own actions and sought to rectify it. So I commend you.

it’s just more fuel for people who keep doubting really. some days it gets rough. my trajectory as of now is tba though

 

[Duke Wy Lin]

Bump