The Moments That Change Us
All change is hard because it requires overcoming the inertia and comfort of staying where you are. But there’s a kind of change that happens in a moment—a shift in perspective. After that shift, you cannot unsee what you’ve come to see. You cannot go back to the way things were.
Call it an aha moment, a pivot, a breakthrough, a wake-up call, a mindshift—these moments of deep learning change the course of our lives.
When I look back, I remember some of those moments—certainly not all, but a few that were undeniably pivotal.
I remember the middle of my second year in high school, when I decided I should be in control of my own education. I took a test, waited for my 16th birthday, and enrolled in junior college. I chose what I wanted to learn, and that changed my relationship with education.
I remember walking into the office of my first real job and saying, “Give me a chance to prove I can do this.” That moment launched a career that has now spanned over 30 years. I also remember taking a class for that job—on repairing laser printers—and realizing a simple but powerful truth: that solving problems often comes down to dividing the issue in half until you pinpoint the source. That may be the most important technical insight I’ve ever learned.
I remember, a few years later, deciding in a different class that no matter what the content was, I was going to learn as much as I could. I remember the things I created from that knowledge, the places it took me, and how it shaped my approach to all future classes. That was the moment the idea truly landed: it is the student’s responsibility to learn.
I remember reaching a point in life when I was so sad, so disappointed and frustrated, that I questioned everything. I remember choosing, in that moment, that I wanted to live—and that I wanted to be loved for who I am, not for what anyone else wanted me to be. In that moment, I chose to change what others saw when they looked at me. To be as open and honest as I could be. To embrace change, and let it build momentum in my life. To resist letting things settle back into the steady state of inertia.
Looking back, I didn’t always recognize the impact of those moments as they were happening. But I do remember choosing to accept each new understanding. We choose to allow these shifts in perspective—to be open to hearing, willing to learn, and ready to embrace meaningful change. The differences we seek in our lives often come down to a quiet decision: to see something differently, to take responsibility, and to use that insight to move forward. And once you do, there’s no going back. That’s how a life changes—one moment at a time.
“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”
– Carl Jung
