Let’s get serious for a moment, Pandas. Do you believe in Fate or do you think that the universe is essentially chaotic? Do you think that we are all free to forge our own paths in life or are we at the mercy of randomness? Whatever your personal beliefs might be on this, it’s hard to ignore that some moments seem to have been predestined because of the number of coincidences that had to happen. Some attribute this to chance, others think a guardian angel had a hand in things.
When it comes down to it, every choice that you make can have a major impact on what happens in the world. And we can’t be aware of all the consequences! The idea that small causes can have large effects is known as the butterfly effect. Changing one thing changes everything.
Internet users opened up about their personal real-life butterfly effect stories in a viral r/AskReddit thread. They shared a bit of everything. From stories about meeting their soulmates completely by accident to surviving life-threatening situations due to a stroke of luck. Read on for their very best tales and upvote the posts that impressed you the most, Pandas. Do you have any stories about the butterfly effect from your own lives? Feel free to write about them in the comment section.
For some more butterfly effect stories, take a peek at Bored Panda’s previous feature right here.
#1
About 20 years ago I was watching a tv show about a guy in Australia who feeds the homeless. At the end they interviewed a few of the homeless who all said he was great, and their names flashed up on the bottom of the screen.
One of the guys had the same name as my brother, who I hadn’t seen for about 15 years. I looked at the screen, squinted…and there under the dirt and grime was my brother, who was an addict and lost touch with us years ago.
I called the tv program and got the name of the feeder guy, he contacted my brother and passed on my phone number. A couple of days later I got a call and told him he could come live with me. And he did.
He moved in at my place, then the next morning went up the road to get a newspaper to look for a job (this was about 2000) Came back and he’d found someone advertising for English teachers in China. He asked me what I thought…I said, what have you got to lose?
So off he went. And loved it. Kept telling me to go too, so six months later I quit my job, sold my car, moved everything I wanted to keep over to my older brother’s place…and left for China.
I was there for 18 years. I met a girl, got married, bought an apartment, had two kids. Then the Hong Kong troubles came and I moved back to Australia a few months ago.
And it all started from watching a tv show and seeing a name I knew.
Image credits: TheDevilsAdvokaat
#2
I unfollowed someone on Twitter.
I did this because my phone was having an issue where I received a notification for every single tweet, and I couldn’t turn them off. One guy, in particular, Tweeted constantly. So I unfollowed him until I could figure my phone out.
He was a Youtuber whose channel had been losing traction. When he noticed I unfollowed him, he recognized me as someone who followed him for a long time and it made him sad. He decided to message me to ask what he could improve with his content and to say sorry to see me go.
I explain myself and we keep talking. And talking… And talking…
I had been in a very bad place in my life. I worked from home and totally isolated myself. I never talked to people. I was on the verge of a very dark place. But I just couldn’t stop talking to this guy.
After coming to visit, continuing to talk every day, moving in and becoming my roommate, we are now happily in love and are even now trying to start a family. A day hasn’t gone by where we haven’t loved talking to each other. I’m so glad I unfollowed him!
Image credits: Cul_TTC
#3
About ten years ago I went to Paris and stayed in a hostel. I wasn’t feeling the best, and a stranger offers me his book, said he’d red it when I was feeling a bit down, and the book actually cheered him up. I read it, (It was ‘A picture of Dorian Grey) and it quickly became my favourite book. It pulled me through feeling really lonely.
After I was done I wrote my name and the place I left it in and ask others to take it on a trip and leave it for someone new to find. Also I wrote a short note about how the book had been a life saver, and to whoever was reading, they would never be truly alone, a stranger is out to them through the pages of this book.
I set it on the bookshelf and checked out at the end of my stay.
When I was back at the same hostel 3 years later, I saw a copy of that book. So I pulled it out, intending to read it. And there on the cover page was my name at the top. The book had traveled through most of Europe, the US, Australia and parts of Asia. The back was filled with notes. Some like mine, kind Words to strangers, others were told stories of adventures they’d had, others how finding those notes helped them through dark and difficult times.
I reread the book, wrote my name down again and added a note thanking everyone for sending the book on its journey, and asking the next reader to continue it.
That strangers small gesture to me by giving me his book, turned into something that was cherished by a lot of people, and I’d like to believe, the notes it had inside helped others along the way.
Image credits: justareacherslife
#4
In high school, my mom was randomly sitting next to this girl one day in her Spanish class. They ended up chatting everyday and ultimately became best friends, all because of that day in Spanish class.
Fast forward over 10 years, they are both married and find out they’re pregnant. Due on the same day! My mom has a girl, me, and her friend has a boy (not born on the same day, but close). Our families stayed close even though we lived across the country from one another.
Fast forward some more years, I realize that boy who was due on the same day as me is the absolute love of my life. After several years of long distance dating, and moving across the country together, we’re getting married in November.
Thank goodness for that day in Spanish class!
Image credits: madds95
#5
The devastating earthquake that rocked Amori Prefecture in March of 2011.
I was based in Japan that time with the Air Force. For about two weeks, some friends of mine and I decided to plan a trip to go to Amori. We made hotel reservations, carpool plans, everything.
The day we were supposed to leave, I woke up too late because I set my alarm for PM instead of AM. We ended up not going because everybody was waiting for me to go. The next day, the earthquake happened the city was ravaged by a tsunami. The hotel I was going to stay at was wiped away. We could’ve died, but did not.
All because I set my alarm the wrong way.
Image credits: blackwaterbomb
#6
I was supposed to go to a U2 concert with this girl was friends with, her boyfriend, and a couple other people. I had a knack for getting good seats at shows so it was up to me to get tickets. She went nuts and accused me of trying to break into her house to clean her carpets while she was in Croatia so I kept the tickets (they hadn’t paid me yet) because I still wanted to go but not with them because they were really good seats. I went to a street fair in town a couple of weeks later and ran into a girl I was friends with from high school who loved U2. I sold her a ticket and she asked if she could bring a friend which just made me think “woohoo, I’m selling another one of these really pricey tickets!” The girls show up at my place day of show and her friend smiles as she is walking in. I saw the smile and knew that was it, I’m going to be spending the rest of my life chasing that smile.
Well over 20 years, a couple of kids and dogs later, and as soon as I finish typing this I’m headed to bed to snuggle up next her.
Tl:Dr I met my wife because one of my friends went nuts and accused me of trying to clean her carpets while she was in Croatia.
Image credits: rhett342
#7
I think I was around 8 or 9 when I befriended a street cat. My uncle and I were checking out the house that we were renovating and since I was a kid, I was out the streets chilling and saw an old dirty orange cat. I took the cat and cleaned her up and fed her. We played for about three hours before my uncle told me we had to go. I left the cat and left.
We moved in a couple of months later. Now, unbeknownst to us, the area had a bit of a mice and snake problem. Fortunately for us we never had much of an issue on that part. Our neighbors weren’t so lucky.
A few years later when we had the place renovated again, we found the orange cat and her kids living inside our ceiling and they were the ones killing the mice and snakes. They also caught some of the cockroaches too.
It’s been years now and the orange cat I unknowingly adopted has now died but her legacy still lives on because one of her kids moved into my apartment with me. My place is the only mice free one in my street.
Image credits: saffkips
#8
The first year I lived in San Francisco, we parked on the street but never locked our car (it was old and better to let people rummage through it than break a window.)
One night a tweaker must have been going through cars and at some point ended up in our back seat with the night’s haul. Maybe they fell asleep or got scared off, at any rate my boyfriend comes back in the morning with a Canon AE1 35mm camera that was left in the backseat. And that’s how I got into photography.
That was 15 years ago, I’ve been published in countless magazines, I’ve had a number of gallery shows, sold loads of prints, I was profiled in the Wall Street Journal and I’m shopping a book. I couldn’t live without photography.
Still have that AE1 too!
Image credits: rehabforcandy
#9
After high school, I attended a community college for a few years. I’m rather introverted and am not good at making new friends, so for most of my first term I basically didn’t interact with anyone.
I had a two-hour break between two of my classes, so I started hanging out in the cafeteria because it had chairs and food. One day I saw a guy rocking a blue fedora (this was before the fedora-wearing neckbeard stereotype really became a thing, and also this particular guy is not and never has been a neckbeard in any way) and I complimented him on it. We chatted a little bit and he invited me to join him and his friends who also spent their free time hanging out in the cafeteria.
Fedora Guy and I dated for a little while, but ultimately we weren’t a good fit long-term, though we have remained good friends. The big thing, though, was that he introduced me to an internet discussion forum he was part of. I joined that forum and became a very active member in that community, and made a lot of friends through there.
Several years later, I was feeling pretty trapped in where I was in life, working a retail job and barely making ends meet, with no resources to go back to school and no marketable skills to look for other work. A couple from the forums (who lived a good 600 miles from me) offered to let me move in with them and they’d support me while I essentially tried to restart my life. I took them up on their offer, moved from Oregon to California, met a guy I really hit it off with, and am now married and working a job that gives me a great deal of satisfaction.
All because I said “Dude, I like your hat” to a stranger in the cafeteria 15 years ago.
Image credits: Lachwen
#10
When I was 24, one of my close friends kept complaining about her roommate. She was saving up to get married and said the roommate didn’t contribute to the house(didn’t cook or clean) and she had been paying part of his rent too. (They had been friends for years.) The dude had always annoyed me, so we had never really talked.
I slept over at her house one night and babysat for her while she ran some errands. Dude came home from work and said niceties to me. I don’t know why, but my big mouth overflowed and I started laying into him about how stressed she was and how he needed to be a man….
Turns out he had been paying double rent and she was using it to fuel her wedding. We had 1 conversation (our first), and it led to both of us dropping contact with her and dating.
We’ve been together 8 years, have 2 kids, and are genuinely happy. Now he pays my rent instead and he has always appreciated my honesty and courage. I’m so glad I’m a mouthy woman, I can’t imagine my life without him.
Image credits: BluEyedChaotic
#11
In November of 2018, there was a huge blizzard right around Thanksgiving. My college didn’t close for the blizzard so I went out early to get some hash browns from the dining hall before my psychology exam. I ended up falling and getting a really bad concussion and had to reschedule my midterm.
The day after (or maybe two days after), I ended up taking a triple dose of my panic attack medication because benzos and concussions make you *really* confused. I knew something was wrong so I went to the ER and nobody believed me that the overdose was by accident.
So at the psychiatric inpatient, I was prescribed some antidepressants. Nurse reassured me that the good mood was just not being depressed. Instead I was actually manically happy and high.
Got serotonin syndrome-muscle spasms, muscle atrophy, seizures, fever that didn’t go down with tylenol so had to use an ice bath, coma for a bit.
Quit college because I couldn’t even feel hunger, went home, did physical therapy, therapy, and got antidepressants because serotonin syndrome ruined my ability to make serotonin. Took a dna test and found out I metabolize SSRIs at double the pace. In the meantime, got to meet tons of nurses and doctors and discovered I wanted to be a nurse. Started volunteering emt and even got to deliver a baby. Got a full ride to college for nursing too.
So wanting blizzard/class + hash browns = concussion -> overdose -> inpatient -> serotonin syndrome -> quitting college for multiple treatments -> finding my true passion, going back to school, and delivered a baby!
Image credits: cookiebinkies
#12
At university we took an exam in a large gym hall. It was so cold you could see your breath in there. Enough students complained that the university agreed to give everyone an extra 5%. That 5% was the difference between a pass/fail for me. Not just that exam, but the entire year. If it wasn’t cold that day, I would have to have either retaken the year, or drop out of uni, completely altering the course of my life.
Image credits: anon
#13
Fifth or sixth grade, I tried to confess to my crush by gifting him a strawberry muffin, I left it in his desk and my plan was to confess I was the one giving the muffin, he ended up having an allergic reaction that caused him to be taken by an ambulance, this caused me to never confess, fast forward to junior year, we were starting to study the bases of a research project to help with our thesis the following year, his original project partner ended up moving to another part of the country and had to switch schools, so he joined my group, at this point I was over the crush, but it was nice having him as a friend, then one day that we were working on the project, I don’t remember exactly how, but we brought out the topic that we should share a secret with each other to become closer friends, I told him about the muffin and he came out of the closet to me, a couple of week later he did it at the school, this caused us to become basically joined by the hip, and he introduced me to his family, and still unknown to me, introduced me to my future bf, his older brother, we have been dating for over 2 years now
Image credits: anon
#14
TL;DR – I bought a t-shirt, this caused me to meet my wife and move from England to the USA.
So many years ago I bought a Geeky t-shirt that had “Byte me!” on the front.
Wore it to a night club one Saturday night and as the club is kicking out a girl walks up to me and says she loves my t-shirt. She is quite drunk so I walk her home to make sure she gets there and get her phone number. Call her the next few days, and eventually meet up later that week at a pub with some of her friends. Get there are there are two other gents both clearly interested in her. So I decide to chat with her other friends to get to know them. Get into a 4 hour debate over philosophy and religion with one girl and stay in touch. We get into a relationship, however she was American and only in England for a study abroad. So we figured out that we had to get married to stay together in any meaningful way. So we did, she lived with me in England for 2 years then we moved to the USA for job opportunities.
I have now been in the USA for 12 years with our 14th anniversary coming in may.
All of this because I happened to buy a geeky t-shirt and wore THAT t-shirt to a night club.
Image credits: Thandius
#15
A guy who had been an acquaintance during university got hired at the lab where I was a full-time lab tech.
We didn’t talk much at work. One day, I saw him walking to the bus stop after work. It turned out he only lived a few blocks from me, so I gave him a ride home. We started talking.
I became friends with his friends group. We all hung out every week. There were many international students from Japan and people who had formerly studied abroad there. I started thinking about my dream to live abroad and teach English, and started considering japan.
One girl in the group had a boyfriend who lived in Japan. I heard his name for six months before I ever met him.
They broke up. He took a job in our city and moved back. He still hung out with the group of friends, so I got to know him. We started dating.
He got a job offer in Japan. I applied to jobs there too. We broke up. I got a job offer. I took the job offer anyway.
I still live here years later. I don’t regret having the guts to move here despite the relationship ending. I’ve built a life for myself here. I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t started talking to my coworker that day, but maybe not here.
Image credits: Alarming-Relative
#16
Was paying off a second hand bike, decided to cancel, owner gave my money back, took the money and bought a second hand PC on gumtree by an ametuer technician but great programmer.
Told him he good do better with sales and building and showed him how.
We started hanging out.
Now we running a small company he started He owns 80% i own 20% (since majority of the money is his) i help out with sales and technical builds.
Last year we met middle year and ended the year with 150,000 turnover and 4000 in profit (not a lot but we throw 100% back in business) the first month of Jan 2020 we made over 10k in profit.
Business is booming.
Image credits: Extriki
#17
My best friend and I were going to get breakfast and then ride to an event together one morning. She was running late, so we decided to meet at the diner and drive separately instead of meeting at my house and leaving her car there. After breakfast, I got in a wreck and the seat where she would have been sitting if she had ridden with me was totally smashed. She would have died if she had been on time for breakfast.
That same wreck caused me to miss an important deadline. I was planning to move out of state, but was injured in the accident and ended up staying put for several more months to recover. While I was recovering, I started dating a guy. If I’d moved as I had planned to before the accident, we might never have started dating. He ended up being really bad for me, but when we broke up, my rebound guy ended up being a real winner. We’ve been married for 13 years and have two amazing children.
Image credits: ItchyBradPitt
#18
Some 20 years ago the mother of friend A reads an add for a summer camp, and decides that it would be nice for friend A. Friend A likes the camp and comes back every summer.
After a year or 2 friend A invites friends B and C to come to camp that summer. They go and have a good time as well and decide to come back every year as well.
After another year friends A, B and C all had to do a year over at school en become my classmates. After a while friend A has to drop out and go to a different school. We kind of keep in touch, but not so much anymore.
Again we travel forward a year or 2 and friend B, C and I (ie myself, not friend I 😉 ) plan on having a holiday together. We decide to go the summer camp with the 3 of us.
We have a great time and the following year we decide to go again. And by sheer coincidence friend A is there in the same week friend B, C and I are there. Again we have a great time and it’s nice to see friend A again.
The following year I turned 18 and was too old to go to camp. Friends A, B and C all became camp counsellors. Good for them, but not something I considered. However, that year the camp has a shortage of counsellors and my friends tell the organisation to give me a call.
They convince me to become a counsellor for that year. Of course I had a great time en decided to come back the following year.
When I return the following year, there is a girl in our team that draws my attention. I’m always the last of the team to go to bed. And as the week progresses, the girl stays up later and later. Then one night, we are the only two left.
We kiss, get married 10 years later and still are happily married!
TLDR: 20 years ago my friends mom saw an advertisement, without which I would have never met my wife!
Image credits: _Dorvin_
#19
This girl that I had a crush on posted in a Facebook group for buy/sell/trade in a small college community about looking for a boyfriend. It was deleted in less than 5 minutes by the admins for being against the rules.
I saw her post in those 5 minutes. I messaged her. We started dating, fell in love immediately. We moved across the country together.
Over 6 years later I’m still living in the state we moved to together, even though we broke up a year after arriving. I think there’s a good chance I’ll spend the rest of my life here.
But that’s not all. Because of her I got connected to another Facebook group for drug reform jobs. Through that group I found my first job in cannabis, something that’s led directly to my next 3 jobs (including my current job) and may be my entire career.
Image credits: adidapizza
#20
I was invited to hang out with an acquaintance who I barely knew freshmen year of high school. I wasn’t sure if I should go but decided to try it out. We had so much fun she became my best friend and it led to a regular meet ups and we both started bringing in more friends and just got bigger every month with almost thirty people who got together every weekend by senior year. Many of us are still good friends and our lives, spouses, and careers have all been shaped by this group that I honestly don’t think would have formed if I hadn’t been invited that night freshmen year.
Image credits: BanJon
#21
I was at my bff for the weekend. We were still in elementary school. My parents were delayed and couldn’t pick me up on time. So I went with him to a theatre rehearsal he recently started going to. BTW, my dad is a professional actor and when I was a kid I told him acting is too hard and that I’ll never want to be an actor. Well guess what. At this rehearsal, one guy couldn’t come so I read his lines. The professor who lead that “theatre” liked my performance and invited me to come again. Do I did. And I liked it. Few years later I decide to draft for the Secondary school where the rehearsals are held, became one of the most influential people at that school, learned a lot about acting, technical stuff in theatres, got many important business connections, made that school a new website and all of that allowed me to get into this faculty I’m currently at. All of those connections are very important and useful to me and I’m only begining to build my career. My story isn’t over yet, but I’m guessing there’s something big waiting for me.
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Image credits: milutin_miki
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