15+ Stories That Demonstrate Why Planning for the Future Is a Waste of Time

You may have heard of the butterfly effect — a phenomenon where a seemingly insignificant event can drastically change the course of history. Of course, this doesn’t happen every day, but there are many small things that can alter someone’s destiny in unexpected ways. And the fact that this effect is unpredictable makes life even more fascinating.

• In 2016, a woman I knew broke her phone and was looking for a place to fix it. I, like a true man, decided to show off and told her I was a phone fixing pro. So, she gave me her phone and I had no idea how to do it. I spent 2 days working on it with a manual. Thanks to me boasting, I found myself, and now I’m one of the best experts in town. I fixed her phone successfully even though I ruined a lot of spare parts. © Overheard / Ideer
• I watched the movie Shadowboxer by chance, heard Apocalyptica’s music, started learning Finnish, then Swedish, and eventually became a translator and teacher of the Swedish language. It was an unexpected twist. © carboverkill / Twitter

• Around 10 years ago, my grandma (she was 55 years old) called a taxi. She got the wrong number, just one digit was wrong, and a man answered. They started talking and they realized the number was wrong, but my grandma wanted to talk to him. It turned out that the man lived across the street, he was 58. They called each other a couple more times, and then they met and they got married. They still live together, go fishing in the winter, and grow vegetables in the summer. © BoomShakalaca / Pikabu
• It was a Tuesday in October 2006. I was working the lunch shift and waited on a group of lawyers. I’ve been practicing law for 4 years next month and it all traces back to that lunch shift. © distractedfanla / Reddit

• I’m almost 30 years old and I’m not married. Even though I’m one of the managers of a big company, I’m a geek deep down. I have to fly a lot on business and when the plane is taking off, I say the numbers from the TV series Lost: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. A year ago, when I was saying these numbers on a plane, I heard my seat neighbor mumble, “Adventure time!” I proposed to her 2 days ago.... © Overheard / Ideer

• An acquaintance of mine read palms. Although I don’t really believe in this, and I only knew this woman through a friend of mine, several people said that she was really good at reading palms and I decided to give it a go. She told me, “You seem so confused. You are wasting your brains at the job you are doing now, and you can feel it. I guess you are sticking to this job because of your child. I’m so sorry! You feel so lost and confused!” It was true, it was driving me insane. I couldn’t sleep because I hated what I was doing, and couldn’t afford to quit. However, it was the last little nudge I needed. I moved on to a totally different area of work, with lower pay, but that I enjoy and where my voice counts. In a way, she saved my mental health. © Aurea Martin / Quora
• I started playing an online RPG. I got into a great guild right away and it helped me through my depression. The people there also gave a big boost to my confidence and so I dared to go on a date. Not only that, but since I suddenly had friends in England, I dared to go to school there and move away from home, even though I have quite a bit of social anxiety. So I met up with one of the guys from the guild and eventually married him. I had to stop playing when we had our first kid sadly. So yeah, without the game, I wouldn’t have a husband or kids or have lived in London..... © ZaMiLoD / Reddit

• In 6th grade, a new kid walked into my math class. He was a wispy little blond dude with an oversized hoodie and glasses. He never used 2 words when one would do. He was pretty smart. One day, he took my pen and hid it behind his back. He didn’t have anything on his desk for me to take, so I grabbed his glasses off his head and put them on. I gasped. Everything became clear. I could read the board for the first time. I could pick out individual leaves on the trees outside. The vague black spot on the roof was a bird. That day changed my life. When I went to the doctor and got my glasses, I became better at my studies and at sports. Even though I had only started to see things as well as other kids, I thought I had a new superpower. © Sam Bunn / Quora

• In 2008, I was working in a camera store. I was the oldest employee by far and most of my coworkers were in their early to mid-twenties. I was also a professional photographer having had a commercial photo studio for several decades. A young woman that I worked with asked me to bring in my portfolio and show it to her. I did and what she said changed my life. She said, “These are really good. You should put them online.” She then mentioned several websites. I was not completely oblivious to the Internet but I wasn’t aware of the growing trend of photography online. I went home and loaded my work onto the sites she mentioned. On one of them, the first person to comment was a woman from Argentina. That woman would eventually become my best friend and wife. She has become my everything, and it wouldn’t have happened without that off-handed comment from my coworker. © Kent DuFault / Quora
• I accidentally walked into the wrong interview 7 years ago and ended up moving to Australia within 4 days. I didn’t think it was that huge at the time. In retrospect, everything that’s happened to me since would have never happened if I hadn’t been such a fool. Being a fool worked out for me. © originalposeur / Reddit

• When I was young, my family would watch a TV series called Combat. Much of the action took place in France, and there was a little boy who spoke French on that show. What caught my attention was the beauty of the language. I loved the sound of it. That began my desire to learn that language. I studied it in high school and went to France for a summer study trip with my teacher and several classmates, and I loved it. That led to a B. A. In French and many enjoyable years teaching French, as well as seven more trips to France with my own students. © Linda Williams / Quora
• I joined a dating site in 2013. Just to see the girls. I kept seeing a girl who seemed familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I had seen her. A few days later, I realized that we went to the same school in different classes. I messaged her and asked her out. She said yes. It turned out that she was about to delete her profile that day, and I just caught her in time. Not only did we go to the same school but we were also born on the same day, in the same hospital, and lived in the same neighborhood. It was a total coincidence. We’ve been together for 8 years now. © JakeSj / Pikabu

These stories are from ordinary people who wanted to share how a moment changed their lives. We at Now I’ve Seen Everything think that the internet needs more of these inspiring texts, so we would love to hear about your sudden life transformations in the comments. And we will make sure that your stories reach as many people as possible.