Anyone got stories of bad luck, disappointment or bad decisions that paid off in the long run? It reminds me of the buddhist parable.
Anyway, I knew a guy who got his girlfriend pregnant in high school. Sounds bad, but she was from a wealthy family. They’re still married and now he gets to travel the world on her family’s dime while all the people who wore condoms in high school are working in the local factory.
I know another guy who got rejected from his preferred grad school, so he had to go elsewhere. While at the other school he met his wife and started a family.
My 3rd child. Yes, the lil’wrekker was a boo-boo. But by God she has been the biggest blessing of my life. She’ll be 20 this year and I have not regretted her one minute. I don’t regret my other 2 either, it’s just different.
I got a job interview with Circuit City and was rejected for whatever reason while most of my co-interviewees got accepted. Literally the next week Circuit City went out of business and I recognized most of them when I went in a month later for the 80% off clearance. I don’t think that job would have been worth the stress and heartache involved knowing I’d be hired then fired with a month.
In 2007, I was very conservatively invested with a lot of govt. bonds. A close friend borrowed a lot of money to buy stocks. He lost his shirt. He commented that I had invested very badly, but it worked out well anyway.
When I graduated HS, I got no scholarship (which were all merit-based and not need-based in those bygone days). So I got a full-time job in a university lab which allowed me to register as a part-time student. My entire life turned–for the better–on this.