Near-death experiences can be life-changing.
Just ask anyone who has had a heart attack.
The Liberal leadership spill motion on Monday was just such an event for Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Abbott is now on final notice, not just from the electorate but his own MPs.
For 39 MPs to vote for a leadership spill, without a declared contender, shows the depth of concern about the direction of the government.
Cabinet minister Eric Abetz put a novel spin on the result, saying it was a "substantial increase" on Abbott's one-vote victory over Malcolm Turnbull in 2009.
Many Liberal MPs believe the May budget will be make-or-break for the prime minister.
Having delivered a deeply unpopular first budget - which, amazingly, is still being talked about in negative terms nine months later - the government will need its next fiscal blueprint to have all the hallmarks of a pre-election splurge to keep it afloat.
This is likely to undermine the government's desire to paint itself as a steady hand on the economy and having a tight rein on spending.
The fact there is no clear trajectory to a budget surplus and the economy is crawling along will go against the coalition.
But Abbott and his closest advisers strongly believe they can beat Bill Shorten-led Labor at the 2016 election.
Labor's adherence to a "carbon tax" - albeit a globally linked emissions trading scheme - will be a chief weapon.
However, there's little else in the coalition armoury.
The policy blunders of the past 18 months and Abbott's notorious "captain's calls" will still resonate at election time.
Curiously, Abbott is standing by changes to Medicare and university deregulation at least for the moment, despite backbenchers saying they are poisonous in their electorates.
The backbench revolt represented a number of small "cells" of disgruntled Liberal MPs and senators bursting to the surface.
Abbott will need radical surgery to hold off another burst, which is likely to see him flatlining on the operating table.
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