What does it take for a personality shift to occur? What I have learned, ( the hard way ), is that it takes a lot, but when it happens it can be catastrophic, just like the tetonic plates adjusting, reforming the face of the Earth, and sending shock waves all over the place, just like that a person can go through the painfull process of reshaping oneself, it is never easy, and and a lot of the times it is not controlable, but the end result is what makes you what you are now, and surviving loneliness, moving to another country, a suicide attempt, a car accident, or having a child are just a few of the hings that can cause our personal Richter Scale to go haywire, and after we clean up the mess, things always look different, because they are.