Most of the 86,400 seconds in our day pass as mundane. We don’t realize we’re wasting them scrolling on our phones or mindlessly following our regular routines. But occasionally, something happens during those seconds that defines us and changes our life’s path.

Those memorable moments are undeniably life-changing and, whether good or bad, unforgettable, and over time, we see things that remind us of those events. Maybe a scent transports you back to your favorite holiday when all your family was together for the last time, or every time you see daisies, you remember your wedding day. Finding and sharing creative ways to hold onto those memories, like flower preservation for corsages and bouquets, has become a typical part of life. 

While each of us has a unique set of life experiences, most of us tend to have the same categories of defining circumstances that make us who we are. Here are 10 of the top most memorable events across humanity, regardless of gender or cultural barriers.

1. Choosing a Career

When you meet someone who has an incredible job that you didn’t know existed or was possible for “someone like you,” it has the power to change the trajectory of your life. You’ve decided that this career is your dream job, and you adjust everything else to fit that path. This decision may propel you into going to college or even walking away from the university degree to pursue this newfound interest. Choosing your career will impact everything from where you live and the money, you’ll make to the people you’ll meet in your life.

2. Exploring the World

If you didn’t grow up with family who traveled regularly, you might have been confined to a state or two (or your hometown) for most of your life. This geographic limitation isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does shelter you from seeing what the rest of the world is like. When you have the chance to head out and cross more borders, whether it’s heading to the other coast in your home country or flying overseas, you learn more about how other people live. The new experiences you have when you travel shape your mind and values.

3. Graduating With a Degree

Your chosen career path took you to a university, and you now have a fancy degree with your name on it. What’s next? This life-changing moment gives you the confidence and education to pursue fields related to the degree you obtained. What you might not realize is that it also opens you up to an entirely new set of potential future paths. You can continue to go to school and aim for further education and a higher degree, use the one you have to find the job of your dreams, or apply for other jobs with your education as a steppingstone to a different field. You’ve expanded your ceiling significantly!

4. Finding the Love of Your Life

You’re going about your day, running through the average 86,400 seconds that are just like every other day of your adulthood, and suddenly, you meet a new person. It may be an instant attraction, or the connection develops over time, but eventually, you realize you don’t want to do life without this other individual. You’ve found the love of your life, and you get married. From the time you met them, your life will never be the same.

5. Having a Baby or Adopting

Planning to add a child to your life or unexpectedly becoming pregnant is another one of those shifts that completely alters your life path. Instead of focusing on how your choices will impact you, the concern now becomes how everything you do and everything around you could hurt or help your little one. Having a baby or adopting is quite possibly the most life-changing, memorable event you may experience.

6. Buying a House

When it’s time to “settle down,” finding the house of your dreams becomes the next expected step. You’ll never forget the feeling of closing on your ideal home, entering it for the first time as its new owner, and making it officially yours.

7. Paying Off Your Debt

Along with having children and buying a new home comes a hefty amount of debt for most of us. Eventually, if you’re strategic about it, you will send in that last mortgage or credit card payment and become debt-free. This moment will stay in your mind forever as a memory of success and financial freedom.

8. Losing a Close Friend or Family Member

Most of these life-changing events are positive and full of happy memories. But part of enjoying life means that at some point, you’ll experience the death of someone you love. If they were extremely close to you, their loss will shape you in various ways. You’ll have a “them-shaped” hole in your heart that you’ll strive to fill, holding onto those memories in any way possible.

9.  Getting Divorced

Your wedding day was the day you thought would be the happiest memory of your life, yet, here you are, unexpectedly ending your marriage early. While no one ever wants to get divorced, the truth is that this event isn’t always avoidable. If your marriage is unhealthy, a divorce can be the best thing for you both. The emotions are painful, and the circumstances are memorable, even if you’d rather forget them. But regardless of your feelings about your divorce, your life will never be the same. If you accept the change and move forward, letting go of hostility and resentment, it could become better! You are now free to live a life without arguments, anger, or bitterness, and with love for yourself.

10. Retiring

You’ve worked hard for decades, setting aside money for those Golden Years that you thought would never actually come. Now that they’re here, what’s next? Your retirement day is a bittersweet event that you’ll never forget. If you set yourself up for financial freedom, you won’t have to work again, and you can do those things you always wanted to do but never had time for. Your career days are wonderful memories of who you used to be, and you are now free to redefine yourself and follow your hobbies and passions.