#1, leaving my ex-GF in 2006... Lived together for 9 years, and I really cared for her, but it was a very unhealthy relationship. She was also my first, and I was her first that lasted longer than a summer. BUT, it was the best thing I ever did. We're now friends, and I'm now happily married, in a GREAT relationship, and I wish I had known how to get out 8 years earlier.
#2, live through 1988... January, did a dumb thing; lied on a credit application and got arrested after a perfect record, perfect grades, and perfect family history. March, my mother's health worsened (she was a smoker, and in a wheelchair since '85 when I was 17), and she fell into a coma in the County Hospital. June, house foreclosed because I couldn't make the payments anymore with my mother in the hospital, and me a total wreck unable to keep things together. July, house exploded & Burned down, just after I was able to sell it in time not to lose it to the bank. I had rented it back on July 1 from the buyers, and then the fire happened. Lost 90% of my stuff, no insurance. September, my mother died in the County Hospital after 6 months in & out of a coma. Christmas, lost my best friend after I did something foolish with his girlfriend (totally unplanned, and I didn't do anything physical, but I was very stupid and deserved to lose the friend). During the year 1988, I got totally out of being fit, and lost 55 lbs in 6 months. But the moral of the story is I never gave up, and today, I wouldn't trade my life for anyone's. Best wife in the world, no serious money problems (and that's not easy to say, with the economy the way it is), and I have worked hard enough to be in better physical shape than ever in my life, and I'm 42.
Why did I rate leaving my ex-GF as #1 when my #2 was so bad? Simple. I had the guts to do it at my own will when I left my ex, but I had no choice or way to change most of the 1988 events. Anyone can get lucky or unlucky, but it takes guts to take action that hurts really bad, only on the hope that you're going to get a gain from it later on.
Charles