Wednesday 5 February 2014

My Defining Moment(s)?

I have thought long and hard, scouring through past memories for a defining moment in my life thus far that has shaped me, and to be truthfully honest - this task seems almost ardous. Life has certainly granted me with many ups and downs in my life, of which I am sure have had an effect on and helped mould me to be the person I am today. However, I feel uncomfortable laying claim to say that any particular experience has had that much of a profound experience in my life, especially since I am uncertain of what is meant by ‘defining moment’. What does it mean or entail? Is it the magnitude of the event? Or could it be the attitude and thought processes behind the reflection of these moments? I wish to see it as the latter.

I think of all my experiences as life changing because I reflect constantly on my life and the events that happen, no matter good or bad. While I wish not to gloat over personal achievements in life, I fear also of being trapped in the failures and losses I have experienced. I personally believe that the experiences that I have had thus far in life have contributed in their own ways to develop me as the person I am today, however simple they may have been.  Hence to describe of a particular moment in my life as having defined who and what I am today, it is an area that I feel I cannot relate to at the moment.

 What I can relate to on the other hand is this: I am not one made and shaped by the larger experiences, but also from the littlest of moments.


(Word Count: 268)

4 comments:

  1. Hi Adelle. Another interesting post from you. Unlike you, I felt that I had too many of those life-changing moments to pick and choose from for this topic. I do agree that we are inherently shaped by the experiences we go through in life. However, I am surprised that not one has impacted you to a degree that you felt it was worth writing about.

    I felt that you posted some really good questions and it made me reflect on the meaning of a 'defining moment'. Personally, I would like to think that a defining moment is when my status quo is challenged and I am forced to change a part of me. This part of me could be my beliefs, values, attitude or anything that has to do with me. I feel that anything that creates chaos (good and bad) in my somewhat stagnant life is pretty much defining to me as it forces me to re-evaluate my life and make necessary changes to it. But then again, this is just my interpretation and others may have different definitions. I guess it’s up to you to decide what is a ‘defining moment’ for you.

    Yikes! I think I have rambled quite a bit in this comment.
    One last thing, you wrote, “I am not one made and shaped by the larger experiences, but also from the littlest of moments.”
    I am wondering if it was suppose to be “I am not only made and shaped by the larger experiences, but also from the littlest of moments.” or am I wrong?

    I enjoyed your post very much even though it gave my brain a little workout(in a good way).

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  4. Thanks, Adelle, for this post, even while it seems to avoid making a decision and isolating any event or situation, big or small, that might have produced an "aha" moment in you. I understand your difficulty in focusing on just one; when you state that it's "the littlest moments" that shape us, most of us will nod our heads in agreement. Still, there must have been something more concrete that you could have written about rather than deliberating on the assignment. The immediate result is that your opinion, while not lacking conviction, seems too easy to rebuke as mere meta-analysis (and as a bit of an intellectual "cop out"). Am I wrong?

    At the same time, some of your expression appears rather convoluted:

    1) many ups and downs in my life, of which I am sure have had an effect on and helped mould me >>> many ups and downs in my life, which have helped mold me...

    2) I feel uncomfortable laying claim to say >>> I feel uncomfortable saying

    3) any particular experience has had that much of a profound experience in my life, >>> any particular experience has had that much of a profound impact on my life,

    Also: Hence to describe >>> Hence, to describe

    Maybe what this boils down to for me is that I simply would rather learn more about you and what makes you the person you are than read a rumination that puts you in the same situation as everyone else (who would also find the topic challenging).

    Of course, if you feel energetic, you can always amend this.

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