My most recent ex and her family. She was pushing for marriage toward the end of the relationship but I was getting sick of her crises of the week and her horrible family. I eventually saw a therapist that helped me realize that my ex was abusive, so I ended it with her and went no contact. I then went on a 6-month dive into learning about narcissists and abusive relationships. Once I learned that, I started noticing all of the fucked up shit she and her family did. They were seriously legit psychopaths. They were so bad that if they came out in a documentary about psychopaths, I would feel validated. I would think, “Yep, the world makes sense.”

Looking back, the way her two brothers-in-law behaved made so much sense. One was was a complete anxious wreck. I never saw him last more than 15 mins in any social gathering with the family, even leaving his own wife’s birthday party at his house once her family arrived. He also didn’t allow anyone to be physically behind him, was typically alone even in social events, and always carried a gun. The few times my ex and I offered to help him with something, he was quite suspicious and declined. I was never able to meet up with him one-on-one no matter how many times I tried to reach out to him over a period of about 6 months. I’m almost certain that the sisters did not want that to happen, so they sabotaged any chances.

The other brother-in-law was clearly disassociated from reality. You could tell by looking at him that he seemed to not be mentally there. It was like he was somewhere else in his mind. His eyes wouldn’t focus on objects, he would not have emotional reactions to things, and had a fake smile on no matter the situational discomfort. Think of people yelling at each other, a horror movie playing at full volume, and something burning in the kitchen, yet this dude is calm and smiling like everything was great. It was odd. Towards the end, he was dropping hints at me like, “I have never seen [your ex] care about how her behaviors affect men,” and told me that, “To survive in this family, you need to understand the Stockdale Paradox.” Btw, the Stockdale Paradox was a mental approach that an American POW in Vietnam used to survive imprisonment while others died. He would also send me songs that were quite depressing, almost as if they were a call for help. I remember thinking that he was trying to tell me he was in pain through songs but couldn’t directly tell me for fear of his wife (my ex’s sister) finding out.

In retrospect, both brothers-in-law were prisoners. The anxious one was in permanent fight-or-flight mode, while the other one was implicitly telling me the hell he was in. I think about the latter from time to time. He was a good guy surrounded by psychopaths. Imagine the hell someone is living if they need to engage in POW tactics to survive their spouse and her family. It would not surprise me in anyway if I found out that guy killed himself one day.

I learned the real meaning of “don’t stick your dick in crazy”. It’s not that they will get obsessed, stalk you on social media, demand attention, or break your heart. It’s that your judgment will be clouded and that will prevent you from protecting yourself, ultimately seriously ruining your life. Those two men are stuck without a way out. However, let’s say that if by some miracle either of them escape, they will never fully recover. The emotional injuries they have suffered have caused permanent damage.

tl;dr: the bullet I dodged was imprisonment with a family of legit psychopaths.

One year, Alaska. Hiking with friend on boulder field. We stop for a break, I stand below friend on the slope. 3-foot rock rolls down at me, luckily I was balanced enough to pivot out of the way.

Next year, nearby. High speed car accident with moose. I hit the brakes just before the moose. Came through the windshield a foot to the right of my head.

Alaska’s an amazing place, but it has its share of dangers too.

Making the long drive back from where I grew up, to where I live now. about 1.5 hours into a 9 hour car ride. On a two lane highway going through some rolling hills, a grass median with a small metal divider separating the lanes. I am traveling up over a hill that rounds to the right, before turning back left and going down the hill on the other side.

As I am heading to the right around the first corner, I see a burst of dust, following quickly by a large black SUV, that has lost control on the curve, ripped right through the metal barrier, and is headed directly at me. I swerve to the right (thankfully nobody was in the lane next to me), and this SUV barrels right past me, without a hint of slowing, missing me by inches. It would have been a 70 mph+ head-on collision, but instead it sailed right past me (and I mean sailed. it was airborne as there was a small ramp up to the highway from the median, I remember how the tires looked like they were outstretched, reaching for the ground, as it rocketed past me).

I was shaking like a leaf for minutes, had to call my mom just to excitedly ramble at her until I calmed down. If I had gone up the hill any slower than I had, I wouldn’t have had time to swerve.

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When I was a teenager, I was hanging out with my brother who is 8 years older while he was fucking around with his .45 (probably ostensibly cleaning it) and it was pointed towards me when for some reason the slide suddenly released and the live round that was inexplicably involved jammed in the mechanism.

So I mean, I guess I didn’t dodge a bullet, but I think I got pretty lucky.

When I was ~19yo, we went to a rave and I let a kid I didn’t know borrow my glow sticks. He lost them and gave me caffeine pills to try to compensate me. Cops saw the exchange and made me pull them out of my pocket. I had ecstasy in the same pocket and got lucky that I didn’t pull out the wrong pills (while rolling face).

When I was 18yo, someone tried to rob us at gunpoint for acid we were selling. Cops got involved and bluffed to both me and my roommate that the other had admitted to selling pot and that was the robbery (we weren’t selling pot, so both didn’t admit to anything). The cops dropped the sheet of acid that was hidden in a porno box when they searched our apartment and we found it on the floor.

In either case, I could have gone to prison for enough time to destroy my future.

My ex wanted to get back together with me. We went for food, I insisted on splitting the bill. She blocked me afterwards.

Its a long story, but this imgur post shows when I literally dodged a bullet by being a lazy gamer who doesn’t put her games away.

Many MANY years ago when I was a child I woke up to use the restroom and my parents were sitting on the floor not realizing I had gone to the bathroom until after and as I came out they had me go over to them on the floor and I fell asleep on their laps. It wasn’t for DECADES later that I learned what had happened. There was a drive by and they were waiting on the cops to show up. 4 houses were hit. I fell asleep and got moved back into my room just before the cops got there

I was seriously considering accepting a remote job where they apparently make their employees install spyware so the employer can see employees through the webcam to make sure they’re at their desk working.

I was the second to last pilot to fly an airplane before it suffered a catastrophic engine failure. The pilot after me put it down in the woods. The plane was a total loss but he was okay, worst injury he had was a scratch on the legs walking through the brush to get out of the woods.

Friend and I were sitting on a top of a small mtn, hear gunshot in the distance, rural area didn’t think about it too much All of a sudden we both hear a wizz and a ricochet between our heads… Look at each and run… That was scary… …Edited for clarity… Sorry…

I’m from Israel.

I was abroad on October 7th.

As a Ukrainian, I can’t even imagine ever dodging a bigger bullet than when I left Ukraine before the war started…

If I had stayed there I’d have to either constantly hide from the “draft officers” or risk my life trying to either (of course illegally) cross the border to Romania through mountains/rivers or to the occupied territorries. Or I’d just be dead already from a shell…

Literally life versus death decision.

Was walking home one night and a bit less then a block behind me, I heard multiple loud rifle shots, turned around a saw a group with at least one person collapsing, others either trying to help him, maybe also falling down and others running.

Did not get the best glance at the victims, as the car with the guy half hanging out of it with a draco was now speeding down the road toward me, firing a few more shots vaguely toward the group.

I ran around a building and down a hill as fast as I could.

Whilst having a panic attack, a techbro walking a tiny dog takes out one ear bud and asks ‘Was that a car backfiring?’

I am quite winded, catch my breath a bit and say ‘No, gun shots, drive by, get INSIDE.’

He then gives me a look of disgust, yanks his dog away from me as if I am a threat to it, puts his earbud back in and walks up the hill, toward the scene.