Situations That Almost Occurred

[Exaltist Ethan]

I'm curious as to situations that almost happened in your life, but didn't happen. I'm talking like, if things happened even slightly differently, how your life would be impacted by such. Let me explain my example.

When I was living on the east side I mainly applied to two places for the next place I would live. Lake Forest 2 and Greenbrook. And in fact, I applied at Lake Forest 2 before Greenbrook. I even applied there twice and removed my first application because I entertained the notion that I could and might live with my best friend. That never happened. But I applied at Lake Forest 2 in April and September of 2015, whereas I applied at Greenbrook in October of 2015. I took a tour of Lake Forest 2 in August of that same year.

In January 2016, on the same date, I received a phone call from both places telling me they accepted me and that I could move in at the end of February. Because I got Greenbrook's call a few hours before Lake Forest 2's call, I decided to take them up on their offer, and accepted their invitation for me to live there. And the funny thing is, while I know now that Greenbrook is a better apartment, I only took a tour of that location after I had already agreed to live there. It was risky of me to accept an offer like that without really knowing the property. For the most part, I accepted their invitation at that moment because I knew that neighborhood and my parents lived three blocks away from it.

Had things been slightly different, like Lake Forest 2 calling me before Greenbrook, I would have accepted their offer and I'd be living in a completely different situation right now. Instead of being in a suburb I would be in an exurb, and my life would be so different than it is right now. I think about this situation and realize that things could have turned out so drastically different, and in my opinion, probably much worse than they are now. But I didn't know that before taking the tour of Greenbrook in January of 2016.

However, if things for whatever reason don't work out with Greenbrook, I always have Lake Forest 2's website and phone number to apply at their location again. I never had a situation like this where the difference in change was so close together. I mean, there were things that I wish had happened differently, but typically with those things, it was obvious at one point that the change I wanted to happen wasn't going to occur. I got the call from Greenbrook Apartments that day, and after I accepted their offer, I was planning on calling Lake Forest 2 the next day to tell them that I took a different offer, but Lake Forest 2 called and told me I was accepted only a few hours after Greenbrook's call. Something like this has never happened to me before.

I just find this whole situation entirely unique because for whatever reason I was pulled out of two waiting lists on the exact same day, and that to me was different than just about any other situation that I wish had or had not happened. I've been living in Greenbrook now for almost seven years. It will be seven years next March. But now that I know that Lake Forest 2 will accept me for sure, I now always have something to fall back on in case the scenario at this apartment complex changes and I cannot live here anymore. Because I took tours and know both places quite well, I know Greenbrook is overall a better location and apartment for me than Lake Forest 2, but I always wondered if things happened just slightly differently, and Lake Forest 2 called me first, I wonder how my life would be different due to that difference.

Typically, when there is a fork in the road I make the wrong decisions, but thankfully this time I didn't.

TL;DR - Has a significant situation ever occurred to you that a choice you could have made would have been easily different, but you made your final decision at one point and things happened the way they are right now because of it? How would things have been different, do you suppose, if you had taken the other choice? Do you often have regrets regarding the choice you made, and wish you would have chosen the other option at times? Let us know what you think below.

 

[ChristineM]

I was once close to suicide, the choice not to go through with it had a great effect on my life. Had i chosen the other path i wouldn't be here to write this post.

 

[Alien826]

TL;DR - Has a significant situation ever occurred to you that a choice you could have made would have been easily different but you made your final decision at one point and things happened the way they are right now because of it? How would have things been different, do you suppose, if you would have taken the other choice? Do you often have regrets regarding the choice you made, and wish you would have chosen the other option at times? Let us know what you think below.

Yes, don't know, yes.

There's a mental game I play when otherwise not occupied. It goes like this.

If you could go back in time and change one thing only, what would it be?

In my case, it was where everything went wrong and I lost so many options. I was 16 and had just done "O" levels (English school exams, that are followed by "A" levels and University). I chose the wrong subjects (Math and Science) for A levels instead of English and similar subjects. I soon found out that I couldn't keep up and left school. I ended up in a dead end office job, and all kinds of other bad decisions followed. Eventually I found my true profession as a Computer Programmer, but it took around 12 years to get there.

 

[Polymath257]

1. When I was applying for jobs for after I graduated with my PhD, I had two places that were offering to hire me: one near Chicago and one in upstate New York. The first had a PhD program and I took that job. The other had someone else in my specialty and I probably would have published more papers.

My life would have been very different with the other choice.

2. In my second year of college, I decided to drop out and live with my girlfriend. if I had not done that, the plan was to go to graduate school in Paris.

I'm not sure I even know how to compare that life and the one I have lived.

3. At one point, my (then) wife gave an ultimatum that she wanted to have a child. I always wonder what would have been different if I hadn't pushed the plunger.

 

[PureX]

I applied to 4 graduate schools after receiving my BFA degree. Three of them were the top art schools in the country, and the forth one was for just in case I didn't get accepted elsewhere. Or I'd get accepted but couldn't afford to go there. They were in Philadelphia, Chicago, San Diego, and Austin. The big three all accepted me, but only one of them offered a full scholarship. While the "back up" school didn't even accept me. So I went to the Art Institute in Chicago.

I liked the city so much that I stayed for 20 more years after finishing grad school. And had I gone to any of those other cities I probably would not have stayed. And I have no idea where I would have ended up. Chicago was the exact right place for the kind of art I was doing, and for the kind of artists I liked to associate with. I couldn't have been happier with the choice fate handed me.

Later, I learned that a friend and undergrad classmate had gotten the scholarship at Philadelphia that I didn't get, and that was perfect for him because he was tough enough and crazy enough to handle that city, and he was always going to move to New York as soon as he finished grad school, anyway. Which he did. And then he stayed in New York for almost 40 years! I don't think I'd have liked living in Phili, and I've never wanted to live in New York. I visited friends there, often, and liked doing that, but was always glad to get back to 'sweet home Chicago'.

San Diego? Who knows. I've never been there, or felt any need to go. So it's just as well, I think. I applied there because they had a good rep and I liked an artist that was teaching there. But that artist came to visit Chicago when I was there and I got to hang out with him, a bit. As well as many others.

And I found out later that the school in Austin felt they had taken in too many applicants from my undergrad school, already. That happened in Chicago, too, a couple years after I went there.

So looking back, I remember being very confused and nervous about that whole process, and about having my life's course determined by strangers in some office somewhere. But it turned out exactly as it should have. And I ended up exactly where I belonged. It was a lesson in trusting fate.

 

[Trailblazer]

I was once close to suicide

Me too, but I did not kill myself so y'all are still stuck with me.

 

[PureX]

I was once close to suicide, the choice not to go through with it had a great effect on my life. Had i chosen the other path i wouldn't be here to write this post.

We are all very happy that you did not choose that path. Seriously! (As I assume you are as well.)

 

[PureX]

Me too, but I did not kill myself so y'all are still stuck with me.

And we are blessed for it!

 

[Trailblazer]

I'm curious as to situations that almost happened in your life, but didn't happen. I'm talking like, if things happened even slightly differently, how your life would be impacted by such. Let me explain my example.

When I was living on the east side I mainly applied at two places for the next place I would live. Lake Forest 2 and Greenbrook. And in fact, I applied at Lake Forest 2 before Greenbrook. I even applied there twice and removed my first application because I entertained the notion that I could and might live with my best friend. That never happened. But I applied at Lake Forest 2 in April and September of 2015, whereas I applied at Greenbrook at October of 2015. I took a tour of Lake Forest 2 in August of that same year.

In January 2016, on the same date, I received a phone call from both places telling me they accepted me and that I could move in at the end of February. Because I got Greenbrook's call a few hours before Lake Forest 2's call, I decided to take them up on their offer, and accepted their invitation for me to live there. And the funny thing is, while I know now that Greenbrook is a better apartment, I only took a tour of that location after I had already accepted to live there. It was risky of me to accept the offer like that without really knowing the property. For the most part, I accepted their invitation at that moment because I knew that neighborhood and my parents lived three blocks away from it.

Had things been slightly different, like, Lake Forest 2 calling me before Greenbrook, I would have accepted their offer and I'd be living in a completely different situation right now. Instead of being in a suburb I would be in an exurb, and my life would be so different than it is right now. I think about this situation and realize that things could have turned out so drastically different, and in my opinion, probably much worse than they are now. But I didn't know that before taking the tour of Greenbrook in January of 2016.

However, if things for whatever reason don't work out with Greenbrook, I always have Lake Forest 2's website and phone number to apply at their location again. I never had a situation like this that the difference in change was so close together. I mean, there were things that I wish had happened differently, but typically with those things, it was obvious at one point that the change I wanted to happen wasn't going to occur. I got the call from Greenbrook Apartments that day, and after I accepted their offer, I was planning on calling Lake Forest 2 the next day to tell them that I took a different offer, but Lake Forest 2 called and told me I was accepted only a few hours after Greenbrook's call. Something like this never happened to me before.

I just find this whole situation entirely unique because for whatever reason as I was pulled out of two waiting lists on the exact same day, and that to me was different than just about any other situation that I wish had or had not happened. I've been living in Greenbrook now for almost seven years. It will be seven years next March. But now that I know that Lake Forest 2 will accept me for sure, I now always have something to fall back on in case the scenario at this apartment complex changes and I cannot live here anymore. Because i took tours and know both places quite well, I know Greenbrook is overall a better location and apartment for me than Lake Forest 2, but I always wondered if things happened just slightly differently, and Lake Forest 2 called me first, I wonder how my life would be different due to that difference.

Typically when there is a fork in the road I make the wrong decisions, but thankfully this time I didn't.

TL;DR - Has a significant situation ever occurred to you that a choice you could have made would have been easily different but you made your final decision at one point and things happened the way they are right now because of it? How would have things been different, do you suppose, if you would have taken the other choice? Do you often have regrets regarding the choice you made, and wish you would have chosen the other option at times? Let us know what you think below.

Speaking of domiciles, I almost bought a different house before I bought the house I am living in now, but someone made an offer on that other house before I could get it so I did not get it. I was very disappointed but later I was glad I did not get the other house, as it was very different. For one thing, there were neighbors all around and it did not have as much land and it was not as private as this house. Nobody can ever find me here even with a GPS! For another thing, that other house was not as large as this house and I did not like the floor plan as much.

One reason I liked the other house was because it was a good deal, cheaper than this house, but it was not meant to be. I did not want to pay as much as this house cost, but I was able to do it with a large house payment, and it has now been paid off for several years. Ironically, I no longer need a house this large because I have less than half as many cats now and no husband, so I live in only one small part of the house.

 

[Trailblazer]

I'm curious as to situations that almost happened in your life, but didn't happen. I'm talking like, if things happened even slightly differently, how your life would be impacted by such.

If things had happened slightly differently, I probably would not be a widow now, but I would not trade the last 37 years of my life for anything, and I will see him in the Abha Kingdom. I often wish I could go now, but I know I am supposed to stay here because it is not my time yet and there are things I need to do.

 

[ChristineM]

We are all very happy that you did not choose that path. Seriously! (As I assume you are as well.)

Thanks
Very much so, that period of my life is behind me.

 

[ChristineM]

Me too, but I did not kill myself so y'all are still stuck with me.

There are far worse to be stuck with. I happy you are still around

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

I'm curious as to situations that almost happened in your life, but didn't happen.

How about something that almost didn't happen, but did? In 1990, I was unmarried and dating. My office receptionist, a flag-waving, church-going conservative (I'm none of those things) that actually looked like SNL's Church Lady, wanted me to meet her neighbor, but I wasn't interested. Not surprisingly, I rarely liked the movies she recommended, she disapproved of the TV shows Married With Children and The Simpsons, so what kind of woman would she be recommending I meet? Probably not another liberal atheist, so I kept declining her offer to meet this woman.

After about a year of watching me suffer in the dating world, she brought a picture of her neighbor in, I liked what I saw, and we had a date that night. She was another liberal atheist. We got married before the year ended and have been happily married 32 years now. And we like the same movies.

 

[Polymath257]

I was once close to suicide, the choice not to go through with it had a great effect on my life. Had i chosen the other path i wouldn't be here to write this post.

We are all glad you are still around!

 

[ChristineM]

We are all glad you are still around!

 

[Wildswanderer]

I'm curious as to situations that almost happened in your life, but didn't happen. I'm talking like, if things happened even slightly differently, how your life would be impacted by such. Let me explain my example.

When I was living on the east side I mainly applied at two places for the next place I would live. Lake Forest 2 and Greenbrook. And in fact, I applied at Lake Forest 2 before Greenbrook. I even applied there twice and removed my first application because I entertained the notion that I could and might live with my best friend. That never happened. But I applied at Lake Forest 2 in April and September of 2015, whereas I applied at Greenbrook at October of 2015. I took a tour of Lake Forest 2 in August of that same year.

In January 2016, on the same date, I received a phone call from both places telling me they accepted me and that I could move in at the end of February. Because I got Greenbrook's call a few hours before Lake Forest 2's call, I decided to take them up on their offer, and accepted their invitation for me to live there. And the funny thing is, while I know now that Greenbrook is a better apartment, I only took a tour of that location after I had already accepted to live there. It was risky of me to accept the offer like that without really knowing the property. For the most part, I accepted their invitation at that moment because I knew that neighborhood and my parents lived three blocks away from it.

Had things been slightly different, like, Lake Forest 2 calling me before Greenbrook, I would have accepted their offer and I'd be living in a completely different situation right now. Instead of being in a suburb I would be in an exurb, and my life would be so different than it is right now. I think about this situation and realize that things could have turned out so drastically different, and in my opinion, probably much worse than they are now. But I didn't know that before taking the tour of Greenbrook in January of 2016.

However, if things for whatever reason don't work out with Greenbrook, I always have Lake Forest 2's website and phone number to apply at their location again. I never had a situation like this that the difference in change was so close together. I mean, there were things that I wish had happened differently, but typically with those things, it was obvious at one point that the change I wanted to happen wasn't going to occur. I got the call from Greenbrook Apartments that day, and after I accepted their offer, I was planning on calling Lake Forest 2 the next day to tell them that I took a different offer, but Lake Forest 2 called and told me I was accepted only a few hours after Greenbrook's call. Something like this never happened to me before.

I just find this whole situation entirely unique because for whatever reason as I was pulled out of two waiting lists on the exact same day, and that to me was different than just about any other situation that I wish had or had not happened. I've been living in Greenbrook now for almost seven years. It will be seven years next March. But now that I know that Lake Forest 2 will accept me for sure, I now always have something to fall back on in case the scenario at this apartment complex changes and I cannot live here anymore. Because i took tours and know both places quite well, I know Greenbrook is overall a better location and apartment for me than Lake Forest 2, but I always wondered if things happened just slightly differently, and Lake Forest 2 called me first, I wonder how my life would be different due to that difference.

Typically when there is a fork in the road I make the wrong decisions, but thankfully this time I didn't.

TL;DR - Has a significant situation ever occurred to you that a choice you could have made would have been easily different but you made your final decision at one point and things happened the way they are right now because of it? How would have things been different, do you suppose, if you would have taken the other choice? Do you often have regrets regarding the choice you made, and wish you would have chosen the other option at times? Let us know what you think below.

The choice to become self employed was a scary jump into the unknown. I don't regret it but I have wondered just what would be different if I'd chose another path.
It certainly changed everything and lots of good things came from it but some not so good.

 

[exchemist]

I'm curious as to situations that almost happened in your life, but didn't happen. I'm talking like, if things happened even slightly differently, how your life would be impacted by such. Let me explain my example.

When I was living on the east side I mainly applied at two places for the next place I would live. Lake Forest 2 and Greenbrook. And in fact, I applied at Lake Forest 2 before Greenbrook. I even applied there twice and removed my first application because I entertained the notion that I could and might live with my best friend. That never happened. But I applied at Lake Forest 2 in April and September of 2015, whereas I applied at Greenbrook at October of 2015. I took a tour of Lake Forest 2 in August of that same year.

In January 2016, on the same date, I received a phone call from both places telling me they accepted me and that I could move in at the end of February. Because I got Greenbrook's call a few hours before Lake Forest 2's call, I decided to take them up on their offer, and accepted their invitation for me to live there. And the funny thing is, while I know now that Greenbrook is a better apartment, I only took a tour of that location after I had already accepted to live there. It was risky of me to accept the offer like that without really knowing the property. For the most part, I accepted their invitation at that moment because I knew that neighborhood and my parents lived three blocks away from it.

Had things been slightly different, like, Lake Forest 2 calling me before Greenbrook, I would have accepted their offer and I'd be living in a completely different situation right now. Instead of being in a suburb I would be in an exurb, and my life would be so different than it is right now. I think about this situation and realize that things could have turned out so drastically different, and in my opinion, probably much worse than they are now. But I didn't know that before taking the tour of Greenbrook in January of 2016.

However, if things for whatever reason don't work out with Greenbrook, I always have Lake Forest 2's website and phone number to apply at their location again. I never had a situation like this that the difference in change was so close together. I mean, there were things that I wish had happened differently, but typically with those things, it was obvious at one point that the change I wanted to happen wasn't going to occur. I got the call from Greenbrook Apartments that day, and after I accepted their offer, I was planning on calling Lake Forest 2 the next day to tell them that I took a different offer, but Lake Forest 2 called and told me I was accepted only a few hours after Greenbrook's call. Something like this never happened to me before.

I just find this whole situation entirely unique because for whatever reason as I was pulled out of two waiting lists on the exact same day, and that to me was different than just about any other situation that I wish had or had not happened. I've been living in Greenbrook now for almost seven years. It will be seven years next March. But now that I know that Lake Forest 2 will accept me for sure, I now always have something to fall back on in case the scenario at this apartment complex changes and I cannot live here anymore. Because i took tours and know both places quite well, I know Greenbrook is overall a better location and apartment for me than Lake Forest 2, but I always wondered if things happened just slightly differently, and Lake Forest 2 called me first, I wonder how my life would be different due to that difference.

Typically when there is a fork in the road I make the wrong decisions, but thankfully this time I didn't.

TL;DR - Has a significant situation ever occurred to you that a choice you could have made would have been easily different but you made your final decision at one point and things happened the way they are right now because of it? How would have things been different, do you suppose, if you would have taken the other choice? Do you often have regrets regarding the choice you made, and wish you would have chosen the other option at times? Let us know what you think below.

I’m sure such moments occur practically all the time. What would my life had been like if I had declined the invitation to row in the school 1st VIII? I would probably have not got the rowing bug and consequently would not have met my wife, whom I met at a rowing club. Suppose I had taken up the chance to go out with Lucy, at the end of the 6th form? Suppose I had not got ill and come back to school to find the only chemistry topic left for the talk we all had to give was organic reaction mechanisms? I might not have got the chemistry bug and might have studied a different subject at uni. And so on.

 

[VoidCat]

The most signifactant choice that would've impacted my life isn't due to mine but someone else's.
When I was living with my dad at age 7 I was severely neglected. When i was removed from the home several people in the family wanted to take us four kids. My aunt and uncle were just the first ones on the scene to find us. Who knows how I would've turned out if one of them had. I might've not had such a crappy childhood or I might've had a worse one.

 

[Exaltist Ethan]

Speaking of domiciles, I almost bought a different house before I bought the house I am living in now, but someone made an offer on that other house before I could get it so I did not get it. I was very disappointed but later I was glad I did not get the other house, as it was very different. For one thing, there were neighbors all around and it did not have as much land and it was not as private as this house. Nobody can ever find me here even with a GPS! For another thing, that other house was not as large as this house and I did not like the floor plan as much.

One reason I liked the other house was because it was a good deal, cheaper than this house, but it was not meant to be. I did not want to pay as much as this house cost, but I was able to do it with a large house payment, and it has now been paid off for several years. Ironically, I no longer need a house this large because I have less than half as many cats now and no husband, so I live in only one small part of the house.

I was quite limited in the selection of places I could live in. My mom didn't want me to move to the unsafe areas, which is most of the city of Milwaukee, but she also wanted me to be on Section 8. There is Section 8 everywhere, but much more prevalent in the city rather than the suburbs and exurbs. I only really had a handful of choices to pick from, but Lake Forest 2's website makes it very clear that they accept people with disabilities, whereas Greenbrook's Section 8 website in multiple areas says that it's a "senior community" and that you must be "62 or older to live here", despite some of my immediate neighbors being around my age.

Meridian Group Inc, who controls Lake Forest 2, has always been upfront and honest with their ability for me to move into their place, but there's many properties owned by a company called Metro that would never give me an answer as to whether or not I could live at one of their locations. Metro even owned both Lake Forest properties at one time, but sold the second property, Lake Forest 2, to Meridian. Meridian has a really bad reputation among many Wisconsinites but most of the complaints people had suggested did not affect me, like pet and parking restrictions. And the thing is, while my parents did own a house three blocks away from Greenbrook, within a few years of me living here they sold it and moved 50 miles up north, so I'm no longer close to them anymore. So regardless, moving to Greenbrook or moving to Lake Forest 2 wouldn't have changed my life that drastically. I still would get picked up by my mom and visited my parents every month if I lived in Lake Forest 2.

The biggest difference between the two properties is that Lake Forest 2 is in an area with a lot more space between houses and whenever I wanted to do something I would have to walk a mile north to South Milwaukee to enjoy city life. Lake Forest 2 is adjacent to South Milwaukee but is still in Oak Creek, and is less walk friendly than Greenbrook, although both places have their own parking for their tenants. They are in different areas of my county with different stores and places nearby, and pretty much no matter where I go had I lived in Lake Forest 2 I would need to take line 15 to get anywhere, whereas Greenbrook has many different bus lines nearby that I can hop on and be in different parts of the city.

My mom made it clear to me at one point that she would have moved me to either property, and it was ultimately my decision which place I would move to. The phone calls that occurred on that one day made it abundantly clear to me at that point that I could have chosen either place during that time. If I could go back in time and change the outcome, I wouldn't, because both Greenbrook's location and amenities are far superior to what I had seen at Lake Forest 2. Still, I now know I have the option to live at either place, and if I couldn't live here for whatever reason, I could apply and get accepted in Lake Forest 2 again in less than six months, which is valuable information to me.

In short: Lake Forest 2 is in a safer area, but has less things to do and go to than Greenbrook. That's ultimately the reason why I made my decision.