What is a pivotal moment and how to embrace it
Seizing the point of no return and making the best out of it
So what?
Don’t let pivotal moments pass by without you seizing them. You will benefit from the following by seizing these moments:
- Opportunity to change your life;
- Make an everlasting memory; and
- Share the experience with your loved ones.
Examples of pivotal moments
Below are examples of pivotal moments that you don’t want to miss out on. You will want to remember the last one on this list.
- Finishing and graduating from school
- Getting engaged or married
- Undertaking spontaneous activity
- Driving alone for the first time
- Having a great meal
- Giving to those in need
- Leaving your family home
- Being in the present at this very moment and appreciating it
How to identify pivotal moment
The most obvious pivotal moments happen at the beginning and end of life cycles which are connected by pivotal moments.
For those that are less obvious, you need to be present. You will miss pivotal moments when you are busy with day-to-day tasks and life demands because you are in a “get it done mode”. One thing to remember is that subtle, less visible pivotal moments are hard to see. You need to open your eyes by being present and aware of your surroundings.
What to do
Opportunities: Be present and become aware of your surrounding to seize your pivotal moments and make the most of life’s opportunities.
Memories: Absorb your feelings and engrave what is happening around you for your pivotal moments to cause a shift inside you and leave everlasting memories.
My experience
My biggest and most memorable pivotal moment in my 30s is my mental breakdown and panic attack that happened at the same time. This pivotal moment left an everlasting memory despite me not being “present” and “aware” of what was happening. That morning is still very vivid in my mind. It pulled me down so low that I could not be any more broken and shattered. Yet this is the moment that I understood and felt what being present is. I learned what being aware of my surroundings is. Whilst not being present led me to the mental breakdown and panic attack, the pivotal moment forced me into reality and the present moment.
What now?
- Be present and become aware of your surroundings.
- Take short pauses and breaks from your daily tasks to “soak in the moment”.
- Appreciate this very moment.