Have you ever had a "life defining" moment?

OH yes I know what you mean, first hand. I used to be able to run 10 miles each way to play soccer and play 3 games back to back. Picture this: Going back 7 years ago. I was training to be a Marathon competitor, coaching soccer, trained so hard, such that my work outs were made of a mile swim, 8 mile run and 30 weight lighting every other day , all back to back. So I decide to go sky diving, and one bad landing changed my life in less then 10 minutes. My whole life changed from that day on. Now I am grateful if I can run for 30 minutes. I had a double surgery on my right ankle and carry a titanium plate and a little throbbing pain tends to remind me, its there every day.

I suppose my life defining moment came last November when we dicovered a tumour in my neck. They were not sure even after all tests what it actually was, and I had to wait until they operated to find out if it was beign or not.This sort of wait does your head in and you do start to evaluate your life and you do make changes in how you look at things and what is most important in your life, and everything else does not matter.

I had one huge defining moment way back when I was 19. I had surgery to get rid of cancer cells. Two days after being sent home from the hospital, I began hemorrhaging and was rushed back to the hospital. I guess it's the way they did things back then but they packed around the bleeding and "watched" me. Not only that but they came in every half hour to take blood out of my arm. When I asked them why they had to do that they said it was to be sure of my blood type. HUH????? It's not like it changed every half hour! I told them to take the blood from where I was hemorrhaging instead since there was plenty of that! Anyway, I lost too much blood and actually began to die. I went through the whole leaving my body thing, then they rushed me back into surgery to patch me up. When I woke up from that surgery, I realized just how fragile and precious life is. We can't take anything for granted, not anything! It can all be over in a split-second. That was my life defining moment. When I got out of the hospital, I saw life differently. I was so much more aware of everything around me and I appreciated every little thing. I've carried that attitude with me ever since then. I've had some minor moments, too, like when I realized that my mother was crazy and I really DIDN'T have to try to please her all the time.

My life defining moment happened back on 9/11/2001 while sitting at my desk at the World Trade Center on the 91st floor of the South Tower. I thankfully got out even though I was still in the building when the second plane hit my building. However, it changed my life completely mostly for the worse and few things for the better.

Personally I can't say that I have, though I know I've had some life- altering moments. Granted those aren't exactly the same. But, you get the general idea. I think everyone has something that's life-changing even if they themselves don't know it. I know that I can recall a lot of life altering things that've forever changed me, but... I don't want to go into details.`

Haha.. I believe I have loads of small ones as well. In fact I believe in the saying 'it's not who we are that defines us but what we do that really marks us' That's why to me, every single moment of our life is a life defining moment every step no matter how small, that we take, will actually make us different from one another and also different from the 'us' a second a go. Have a nice day :)

i also have a lot of little ones, but i guess i have to defining moment that changed my life. when i was a teen i was with friends that i thought i can call friends but unfortunately i picked the wrong friends. when i realize that they are not good friends after all so from then on i roll alone. from school i no longer hang out, i just go straight home and watch tv, play video games. or read a book or practice playing guitar. then as i was maturing ii also had relationship that did not work out. so that made me became more deeper on being a loner. then i met my wife. she changed my world we got married and had a child. so after that i was never a loner nor alone. one more thing is the typhoon that flush flooded us last september 26. flooded my mothers house till the roof. that is one thing i will never forget, the nerve rocking and tension, the scary feeling and adrenaline all in one feeling. so maybe that is so far my life defining moments and a lot of little bunches to that is worth remembering as well.

good morning Jen, I think i have had many life defineing moments.I think the first one i had was when my sister got killed in the car wreck , when my 2marriages failed, losing a baby, the brain aneurysm i had just to name a few. Happy sunday to u. hugs.

I think I’ve had both. There are incidents that happen every day and sometimes they have more of significance on the scheme of things than what I give them credit for at the time and it’s usually not until sometime later that I can see why things had to happen the way they did. As far as a big defining moment, I think the day my daughter was born everything changed not just because of the obvious lifestyle changes but because up until that point I did not clearly see my purpose and why I was here. Since then I’ve had many reasons to see that there is a basis to my existence but I do recall the day I had my child feeling like a big weight was lifted from my shoulders and not just my body (LOL) I remember thinking, “If I don’t achieve anything else in my life, that’s okay because now that I’ve done this I know that I am here for a reason...” Strange isn’t it?

There have been a few small ones throughout my life that have changed the course of my life eventually, but there have also been a few big choices and events that have changed my life big time. The first was probably choosing to move interstate away from all of my family and friends to start a new life in a warmer climate with my new girlfriend at the time. Then I chose to go overseas and work in the USA for six months and travel around the world. This changed my outlook on life massively. The next two big changes to my life were when my two kids were born. This had probably the biggest effect on my life and led to the next one when I chose to give up my comfortable job and trade to work from home. Choosing to do this in 2006 has led to lots of financial strain, but I have been able to spend a lot more time with my children than I ever could before.

Just those little ones and some medium ones for me. There even those you think has a huge meaning but turns out to be nonsense. I'm still waiting for it and i believe i'll only experience it when i achieve a huge goal in life.

i had never experienced life defining moments as described by you. But have experienced many moments when my life was at threat, and some body came to help me from nowhere. It has happened with me, that whenever i have faced any problem, somebody always come forward and help me, the helping person may be known or many time unknown. Such moments have made me realized importance of helping others. So Whenever i get chance to help someone, I also extend the help willingly.

I had, and not only once or twice. I should have decided the other way around. Well that is life. So next time we should always open our eyes, because just maybe another opportunity might come by, so don't just let it pass. Good Luck

My life defining moment would be when I and my husband made a decision to go to UK for our son to have better education. The decision turn our lives around in such a way that I couldn't quite tell if it is completely good or bad. The bad part this that the decision we've made made us met a number of people who define the word 'human beings'. I've come across the kind of experience that if anybody telling me about this five years earlier, I wouldn't believe it at all. I've met selfish people, evil people, plain bad people, and a very-very jealous and bitter people who would only think bad about you and want to pull you down hill with them. They are so disgusting you couldn't imagine there's this kind of people on earth. The good part is, I get to know exactly how I should run my own home as a good mum and a good wife. I now know exactly how to be nice, but not too nice so people will not just walk all over you, because that's exactly what the bad ones look for opportunities to do. I learn to cherish good relationship with people and also try to live life to the fullest.

That is a good one.Yes I too have so many moments that defined my life.But almost all of them are big decisions.And than God all of them have turned out to be favorable to me.Recently I have ventured into HR business and it proved to be good too and I am sure that I am moving in the right direction with the very right efforts.

This is so interesting........I do think that I have had more smaller moments, but a larger one that comes to mind is in June of 1996 when I had a stroke. I became aware of how I am not guaranteed to be here tomorrow, and although most things didn't change, there were some things which did. I knew to take better care of myself and not to let things get me stressed. I think my son learned this quickly since I stopped yelling at him and just talked, for a change. He wasn't able to push my buttons as easily. I have become aware of my own body and when it needs something that I am not doing for it and to take better care of ME.

I suppose it was my year in Germany. I wouldn't have ended up with my husband if I hadn't gone.

I think I have several at different stages in my life. When I made a decision and it was actually a good one. Recently I realized some things about my daughter and the situation at that point in time and came to grips with some things I either had not been able to or didn't care to before.

I can remember many such moments. The day I got my first horse, the day my parents divorced, the first day at boarding school, the birth of my first child, my first job, my last job, All these and many more changed my life.

well it happen to me but in a sad way and i learn from it i guess decisions supposed to be anywhere without a warning it could hit you hard or good it's just simply having an options have different odds.