Sometimes we survive a harrowing accident and have a huge, life-altering revelation about the beauty and impermanence of life, and it inspires us to live our life to the fullest, be a better person, and pursue our dreams. And sometimes a magazine article changes the way we think about food.

Life-changing things come in big and small packages, but people often feel so silly admitting that a children's show inspired them to seek more out of life, or that a fortune cookie gave them the courage to take up a new hobby. But that's just how things happen sometimes.



So what about you? Did Pinterest inspire you to be a better cook? Did a youtube vlogger make you a better person? Did a song change your perspective on life? The changes don't have to be epic revelations, but things that made your life better.



I'll start! About a year ago I hadn't read Harry Potter in years, but I was bored one day and I decided to take a Sorting Hat quiz. It put me in Hufflepuff, a house I didn't know much about. I did some "research" (if you can call looking up opinions and traits for a fictional group "research") and found that while the house is the object of much ridicule, it values kindness, loyalty, fairness, equality, and hard work. I liked that and felt it fit me. It inspired me to be a kinder person so I can live up to my house. Seems silly, but it's true!

I was given a Trauma Teddy by the Red Cross at one point in my life (just the fact I received one is testament to the bad situation I was in). It was the only thing that comforted me back then and made me go on.

Also, chatting online one drunken night on a random chat site led me to meet with my other half that changed my entire world.

I used to be really quiet and not talk to much of anyone. I was always the awkward "girl" that dressed in boy's clothing and people always made fun of me for being a lesbian even though I never dated anyone at the time. I used to get upset about it until one of my friends asked me why it upset me and I really did not have an answer why being who I am would upset me. So ever since then I didn't care what other people thought because I'd always remind myself that it didn't matter. I think that's one of the small things that made the biggest impact on my life.

This is going to sound absurdly strange, but nail polish and a Pashmina scarf are the two things that finally sparked the light that started to lead me out of a two year long depression and period of anger...angst...loneliness.

In the middle of the year 2010 I fell head over heels in love for the first (and only) time in my life so far. Looking back...it was probably just young love. Maybe an obsession on both of our parts...either way it was a bit foolish to say the least. But anyway, the relationship didn't end well...I won't go into details, but the breakup itself was awful, and then I ended up being "harassed" for about a year by my ex because I'd made the mistake of telling him I wanted to be friends.

Long story short, it landed me in a spiral of depression that I'm still not a big fan of talking about. I lost myself. I forgot my favorite things...my favorite colors...I forgot everything about me that made me me. I was just existing.

Until November 2011 when I went to a Christmas themed craft show and came across a beautiful purple, blue, and gold, Pashmina scarf. I bought it, and the first day I wore it, I realized something. That the scarf was my personality. It was my favorite colors, it was elegant...it was graceful. It was all the things I'd lost and stopped loving about myself.

Shortly after the scarf I started painting my nails a sparkly purple blue color, and like the scarf, it reminded me who I was.

Those two things slowly but surely made me find myself, and love myself, and return to a better version of the person I'd been before my heartbreak and my depression.

Sorry for the text wall, but the topic totally reminded me of those two little happenings that I owe so much to. Of course people helped me out of my depression, as well, but the scarf and nail polish are what made it possible for people to help me.

Great stories, guys! I can't wait to read more.

I wasn't aware of it at the time, seeing as I was a baby when it happened, but my mom adopted me. and I realize now what a big impact that is. I could have been aborted, I could have ended up in a group home, I could have ended up in the foster care system until I was 18. But my mom brought me home as a foster mom and fell in love with me and adopted me. and I've had a wonderful life so far. and I'm eternally grateful.

Awww, that's sweet, Maria. But I wouldn't downplay that, it's certainly no small thing! I'm glad you ended up where you are.

This sounds rather pathetic when I put it this way, but... technically, the profile picture that I chose for MySpace when I was thirteen ended up changing my life.

I didn't really even want to have an account on MySpace in the first place, but some of my friends kept bothering me about it, so I finally agreed to make one. I didn't use it much for a while, and I didn't have many pictures of myself at the time, so I decided to just use a random anime picture instead of a real one. Well, one day I got online and checked my messages, and one was from someone I didn't know. I opened it, and it was another girl with an anime picture messaging me just to comment that she liked my picture, and that she hadn't met many other people on the site who were anime fans.

We started talking after that, mostly just about anime shows and other things we were both fans of, and we discovered that we had a lot in common. It turned out that she actually lived just one town over from me, and, even though she was homeschooled, she knew some people who went to my school. We became really close friends, and we would talk for hours online nearly every afternoon. I always loved talking to her, because she was so different from most of the teenagers where I live.

At the time, I was being bullied rather severely pretty much every single day at my school. I was miserable all the time, and most of my real-life friends honestly contributed to all of the stress in my life more than helping with it. She was different, though - We never talked about that kind of thing, but just having a real best friend to go home and talk to after school really changed my life.

I don't quite know how to explain it - I guess you'd have to meet her for this to really make sense - but the way she thinks and looks at the world is so different than most people's perspective. She's definitely the kindest person I've ever known; I know it sounds so fake, but she really goes out of her way to be courteous and friendly to everyone she meets, and she's always an optimist. Just knowing her has made me want to be a better person, and honestly, I don't know what I would be like today if I had never known her.

But aside from that... This post is getting huge, but I have a Harry Potter-related one as well. xD I think it's pretty obvious that Severus Snape is my favorite character, but here's part of the reason why:

I had been a big fan of the HP series when I was younger, but I hadn't read them in a few years. This was about two years back, and I didn't have much of anything to read one day, so I decided to go back and reread them. Now, at the time, a lot had been going on in my life, and the year before I had made a lot of choices and got involved with a lot of things that I had come to really, really regret.

As I was reading, I started to pay a lot more attention to Snape's character than I had when I was younger. At first, he was basically just a character that I liked, but as I got to the parts involving his past, I started to really notice that, in a way, I had a lot in common with him, which led me to sort of identify with his character.

I don't know if this even makes much sense to anyone but myself, but more than that, his story really kind of inspires me, how he went from being involved with the Death Eaters to devoting himself so fully to the side of good and becoming one of the story's heroes. Especially back then, I was often really tempted to go back to some of the things I had been into in the past, but thinking of Severus's story helped me a lot to keep from giving into that temptation. Silly as it sounds, I almost felt like I would be letting him down if I did that.

I guess it's probably not really as much of a big thing as I make it out to be, but I am very grateful that I read the series when I did and that I discovered a character that ended up meaning so much for me.

Nothing to add at this point, other than Hufflepuff When the majority of the staff signed up for Pottermore and I got sorted into Hufflepuff, I wasn't the least bit suprised. I'm glad being sorted helped you to re-evaluate yourself, Cherry

That's so cool that you found such a good friend like that, Half-Blood Princess! In my experience, the best friends you'll have often come from the most unexpected places. It's almost as if something is drawing you together, despite the odds!

Jelly - Hufflepride!

I love reading your stories, I wish this thread goes on and on and on.. ^__^ and never dies.

Yes, come share your stories, folks! Don't feel that they're boring or insignificant or silly. It's wonderful to hear about people's lives being improved.

I think one of the things that has changed me for the better was either a TED Talk or a blog post. I don't remember exactly. All I remember is the person saying that she gets really upset when people tell her to "enjoy every moment" about being a parent because being a parent is freaking hard.

As a single mom, I have a really hard time. My daughter has SO MUCH energy and we have completely different personalities. She loves to talk, and be in people's space and play and run. And I am much calmer, quieter and more introverted. And I feel like a HORRIBLE mom that I'm not "enjoying every moment" because that's what we're told to do.

Then this lady laid out EXACTLY how I feel and gave me a new way to look at things. Instead of enjoying every moment, relish those moments that make you think "holy crap."

Like, just the other day my daughter and I were walking to the park and I looked over at her and I realized how much she looks like me and it kind of stopped me and I just enjoyed that moment.

Then on the way home, she was whining because the walk was too long and I ended up caring her on my shoulders - she's not exactly light anymore.

For me, it was wonderful to read that someone else out there feels similar to the way I do, that it's impossible to enjoy every moment of everyday parenting.

Oooh, I found the post I read! here!

I'm a Hufflepuff too! :') (I really need to go back to Pottermore at some point, my bad...)

It was the James Cameron version of Titanic was what changed my perspective on life to be honest. I've always loved the film and had a deep interest in the actual event (borderline obsessed haha). I was in a pretty bad patch from around August last year until around July this year. The fact that Jack had such a bright outlook on life and took each thing as it came, jumping into things and going after what he truly wanted even though he shouldn't (going after Rose) sort of shook me out of my mood. There are plenty real people out there who can do that (and I certainly used to) so I've decided to try my best to do that too. It's been working so far. Doing things I wouldn't normally do and experience things I never thought I would is a fantastic feeling and it's making me feel myself again.

It might sound total stupid, especially when you look at the tragedy as a whole, but it really helped me.