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Ask HN: Have you ever had a changed-your-life moment?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you ever had a changed-your-life moment?

#101

Post by v-erne »

exDM69 wrote: post #19

I visited (trespassed) in an underground bomb shelter with accomodations for 11000 (eleven thousand) people. It was mothballed and parts of it were used as storage, but most of what would be needed for housing people there if war or nuclear fallout would hit was there. Dry toilets with no privacy, toilet paper, some dry rations, mattresses, blankets, air filters, first aid kits etc. For 11k people. It was two giant v…

>> Made me stop playing war games and watching war movies.

Thats really interesting reaction - probably totally opposite of mine. I honestly believe that war is one of mankind's stupidest invention and suspect that there are no heroes on any battlefield - only naive, stupid and unlucky ones that mostly use pieces of metal with high kinetic energy to pierce through flesh of others. I would never agree to take active part in it. But despite that I love war movies and war games. War theme allows for very good, emotionally charged (in oposition to kinetically charged irl) and captivating narrative that is hard to create otherwise. But nonetheless this is the only good place for war - fantasy.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever had a changed-your-life moment?

#102

Post by hamter »

CalRobert wrote: post #31

In 2012 I bought a book called "Getting Out: Your Guide to Leaving America". It had a chapter on how to move to (almost) every country in the world. Nothing seemed practical, I didn't have the skills and there was a recession. But in the end there were some interviews with people who had left, and there was a throwaway line: "I got a working holiday visa for Ireland" I didn't even know working holiday visas existed!…

When it comes to working holiday visas this is one of those times non-Americans[1] actually have _more_ options than Americans.

1: Western non-Americans, more specifically, unfortunately..

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever had a changed-your-life moment?

#103

Post by 300bps »

mg wrote: post #9

When I was a little kid, I was at a department store and saw a guy doing something with a television. Or so I thought. Me: What are you doing? He: I am programming. What's your name? Me: MG He: Check this out: 10 PRINT "MG" 20 GOTO 10 Me: Woah! I picked a book from a shelf about "Basic" and started to try figuring out how this worked. And never stopped. Have been looking at these "televisions" more than anything else…

Same thing for me watching my 5th grade teacher program a Commodore Vic-20. I was instantly hooked.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever had a changed-your-life moment?

#104

Post by onemoresoop »

atonse wrote: post #99

Getting officially evaluated and diagnosed with ADHD two years ago (at age 39). Not a single moment but gave me a framework, tools, and vocabulary to understand my various issues and come up with treatments/solutions. When I was 19 until my mid 20s, I was often the youngest guy in many corporate settings, and really shining. That was me getting by on raw talent. But to move further you also have to couple that with e…

Please expand on your trajectory and how it changed when you got diagnosed. I'm not diagnosed but I definitely have some traits and have similarly gotten stuck and pushed through multiple times and reinvented myself in different ways but as I get older the energy to do so becomes hard to summon up.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever had a changed-your-life moment?

#107

Post by atemerev »

atonse wrote: post #99

Getting officially evaluated and diagnosed with ADHD two years ago (at age 39). Not a single moment but gave me a framework, tools, and vocabulary to understand my various issues and come up with treatments/solutions. When I was 19 until my mid 20s, I was often the youngest guy in many corporate settings, and really shining. That was me getting by on raw talent. But to move further you also have to couple that with e…

I was diagnosed 9 years ago, but still struggling in individual contributor roles. What did you do to break the cycle and start scaling up?

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever had a changed-your-life moment?

#108

Post by purplerabbit »

euroderf wrote: post #12

I had a religious experience decades ago. Stone cold sober. I only talk about it with my closest friends, because I don't want to be perceived as another nutter. But it keeps me up when I am feeling down, and holds out the promise of living a life on a proper path. My 0,02€, YMMV.

Same.

Yes, it was also a hallucination, as other commenters have pointed out. But if you allow yourself to be affected by ideas, or art (i.e., synthetic visual or audio experiences), shouldn't you be open to being affected by a unique positive experience generated by your own specific mental architecture? Almost definitionally, it's possible that such an experience could impart you with something more meaningful than something generated externally.

Also, to other commenters: such an experience is obviously very difficult to communicate about effectively. It was formulated by and for your own brain, and so will be hard to translate effectively to a different architecture.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever had a changed-your-life moment?

#109

Post by atemerev »

CalRobert wrote: post #31

In 2012 I bought a book called "Getting Out: Your Guide to Leaving America". It had a chapter on how to move to (almost) every country in the world. Nothing seemed practical, I didn't have the skills and there was a recession. But in the end there were some interviews with people who had left, and there was a throwaway line: "I got a working holiday visa for Ireland" I didn't even know working holiday visas existed!…

I live in Europe, but I would love to move to America someday; the opportunities to start something there are vastly more visible (European startup culture is nearly a contradiction in terms). Sadly, it becomes increasingly more difficult.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever had a changed-your-life moment?

#110

Post by jacquesm »

CalRobert wrote: post #31

In 2012 I bought a book called "Getting Out: Your Guide to Leaving America". It had a chapter on how to move to (almost) every country in the world. Nothing seemed practical, I didn't have the skills and there was a recession. But in the end there were some interviews with people who had left, and there was a throwaway line: "I got a working holiday visa for Ireland" I didn't even know working holiday visas existed!…

It started with you taking action though. Lots of people wait and hang around for serendipity to find them.
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