Life Changing Events

            In many of my writings I have often referred to, what I like to call, a “life changing event”. Most of the time I have left the interpretation of that phrase “life changing event” up to the individual reader. I figured the subject matter of what you were reading at the time would keep it in context. Apparently that has not always been the case. 

            In my own interpretation there are really only two types of life changing events. There are situational life changing events, which occur many times throughout our lives and are (most of the time) very subtle in nature. They can be so subtle that most people never even know they’ve occurred. Then there are educational life changing events, which are (often, but not always) far more dramatic and normally teach a lesson of one form or another. The lessons learned from these are usually a result of us doing something wrong, or not very safe. (All too often, not too bright either…). 

            When presented with the phrase “life changing event” many people imagine that because of a huge catastrophic situation someone’s entire world will never be the same. Well, that’s almost correct, except for the ‘huge catastrophic situation’ part. In reality a true “life changing event” is any pivotal moment, however subtle, that causes a change in direction of someone’s life. This can indeed mean a huge catastrophic circumstance, situation, or event. It can also mean something as subtle as a wink from across the room, without which you might never have had the courage to simply say “hello” to someone you’ve never known. A life changing event can be something as simple as a boss or coworker paying you a compliment for something you’ve done during the course of your day, without which you may have never noticed the positive impact you had on someone’s life on that particular day, and as a result you may have never done that good deed ever again. These are examples of small, pivotal moments that turned out to be life changing events.

J. D’Urbano…