I’m on the verge of making a decision that could drastically change my life, at least for the next few months. These events happen to us every day, whether we notice them or not, but when we’re the ones making the choices, the results loom over us moreso than usual.
Because of the position I’m in, I’ve been thinking about the decisions I’ve made, and the good fortune that has come to me, in the past couple years (many of which revolve around the eBay auction). At the time, I didn’t always realize they would change my life as much as they did, but in hindsight, I have no idea where I’d be if things happened differently.
Here are some of the events that come to mind:
- I decided to wait for the bus one day instead of walking the short distance back to my apartment. I ended up talking to a girl also waiting for the bus. Not long after, we began what would end up being a two year relationship.
- I decided to leave medical school after a year to pursue a teaching career (and to spend more time working with atheist groups). Had I stayed, I’d currently be an M3, a year away from becoming a doctor. And I doubt I’d be doing any of the atheism work that I am doing. I don’t regret my decision at all.
- I decided to put the eBay auction up on a lark.
- Jim Henderson won the auction in the closing seconds. The partnership was more eventful and thought-provoking than anything I had anticipated. Had Jim not won, I probably would have gone to one church for an entire year and the writeups may have become dull rather quickly.
- A journalist from the Wall Street Journal chose to write an article on Jim and me, giving our story national exposure.
- I decided to say no to the first couple offers from companies looking to capitalize on the eBay auction. There were enticing offers that were hard to say no to, especially since there may not have been anything waiting in the wings.
- One book offer came that I was excited about, but I knew I needed someone to look after me. After contacting a *lot* of lawyers who work in the literary field, and realizing there was no way I could afford any of them, I nearly said no to the deal. As a last resort, I contacted an agent that had approached me earlier and asked him if he had any advice. He introduced me to a literary agent who ended up representing me wonderfully and led to I Sold My Soul on eBay.
- I started this blog last June. It’s been a thrill watching it grow. It has also given me a release to talk about atheism-related issues that would be difficult to discuss otherwise. In many ways, I feel like I’m more connected to other atheists through this site than through working with many of the national secular organizations
This is far from a complete list. But I’m certain that if any of those events had not happened, my life would be very different as a result. Obviously, there are dozens of minor things that happened to change the course of my recent history and I haven’t figured out their significance just yet. Still, the ones I mentioned stand out to me.
I know there are many religious people who would chalk up this series of events as part of God’s plan. I don’t buy that. My life would just be somewhere else right now without all those things happening. That could be good or bad. But this is the path I ended up taking. Hopefully, the decision I make in the next couple days will lead me in a good direction, too.
It would be interesting to hear what events have reshaped your life and turned it in a completely new direction. What were the big decisions you made? What events did you not think would be a big deal, but ended up changing everything?
[tags]atheist, atheism, medical school, M3, doctor, eBay, Jim Henderson, Wall Street Journal, I Sold My Soul on eBay, God[/tags]
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