Let's face it, even though all of us here are coaster nerds, none of us started out that way. It seems like everyone has a different story of how it happened to them, and they are always quite interesting, so feel free to tell yours in this thread. I'll share mine here...
Back when I lived in Florida, I went to Islands of Adventure with a few friends, and one of them kept on bugging me to ride Dragon Challenge with them, and even though I was still quite scared of coasters at the time, I eventually gave in to stop the pestering. The whole time I was waiting in line, I was very panicked about riding it because I was scared of going upside-down, and I was one of those dumb GPs that thought roller coasters were unsafe. While we were getting seated and then going up the lift hill, my panicking reached its height. However, once we were on the break run, I was in awe of the experience, and couldn't wait to ride it again. So basically, in less than a minute, I went from being deathly afraid of coasters to loving them. I ended up riding Dragon Challenge four times that day, twice on each side. However, I have to give the credit to Manta and Kraken at SeaWorld Orlando as the two rides that really sparked my enthusiasm for roller coasters. Still, without that ride on Dragon Challenge (it was the red side, by the way), I would not be sitting here typing this. I really wish I could have visited more parks and gone on more coasters before I moved away form Florida .