[color=blue]We have all had experiences that have changed the direction of our lives. These experiences may be momentous or they may be experiences that did not seem significant at the time, yet they changed our lives in some way. Recall such a turning point in your life and present it so that you give the reader a sense of what your life was like before the event and how your life changed after the event.
A turning point is defined as a place that changes our life, radically. It can be physical, as of changing of place or environment, and it can be symbolical, that changes the meaning of our life. Such turning points, the twists and turns become more explicit to oneself, with the passage of time. As one cross the borders of childhood and teenage, peeking back through the days passed by, one may get a number of surprises. It may occur to you that your thoughts were really wrong about an event, although they seemed so right to you at that moment. Also you will become evident of those turns that changed the meaning of your life.
In my case, as of today, I can count a number of turns, physical and symbolical, that tuned, trimmed and groomed my personality. One big twist was my marriage. I can call it an event that occured so suddenly that I was stunned by my own reactions and feelings. Although, as I lived in the same vicinity even after marriage, the immediate twist was only a symbolic one. The physical change occured years later after my marriage. Here I will explain only the symbolic effect of my marriage.
As an Asian and Pakistani, an arranged marriage, is not odd for me. So, when my father consulted me about the proposal and showed his approval, I gave in my consent too. However I was then doing my bachelors. My, to be husband, agreed that I should continue my engineering and he will return to America, where he was doing his business.
Till that moment, it was all very simple. I didn’t knew that this stranger will become so important to me, within a few days. I enjoyed this new relationship and spent a month with him. But, as soon he returned, we both were more than perturbed and lonely. I was unable to concentrate on my studies. My feelings have suddeny changed from a free, irresponsible student and daughter to a rather mature girl who like to change and adorn herself in accordance to her husband’s likings. Doing compromises became tangible.
This all was a news to me then. I learnt to manage and work in difficulties. I learnt to concentrate on my work, at times when it seems impossible. I became quite responsible and confident too. My attitude towards my education and home took a major turn. I could easily compare that with my collegues and friends who were so care-free and at the same time, so aimless.
At that time, I felt that I took a wrong decission of getting married, and this long distance relationship is continuosly bothering me in my studies. But today, when I look back, I can tell without a doubt, that it was a very timely decission. The maturity and confidence, planning future and achieving aims, being practical and seeing achievable dreams, doing compromises and remaining peaceful, finding real world solutions at difficult times, I found all these qualities inside me and they groomed my personality.
My marriage was such a great turning point of my life. Today, I believe that an early marriage is a good decission than a late one. At a young age, one can easily do compromises, can mould and adopt new characteristics and can adjust in different and utterly new environments. This event of my life really changed the meaning of world to me.
TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between a dorm mother and a resident