Happy October 1st.

To most people, maybe all, it’s just another day. But for me, it’s October First, The Milestone Day.

A milestone date is a marker. It’s a particular date when something eventful, positive, negative, traumatic, celebratory, life-shaping, or just plain big happened to you or because of you.

It’s a date that as the years go on you can reliably measure or get a good sense of what has happened to you since then.

Milestone dates are important because most of us don’t journal, most of just don’t continuously take the time to write down what is happening. Thus, we end up with a very fuzzy sense of the past and when things occurred. But with a milestone date, we can actually measure.

Eight years ago today I left a job at a company that was imploding. Embezzlement, I later found out, was the cause. And that embezzlement came from somebody I knew well and trusted. It took me many years to come to terms with it. On that day, October 1st, I came home and told the family I quit my job. Life has not been the same sense. Not all has been good. Not all has been bad. It’s just been very different from life before that date.

Every year on October 1st I can clearly judge my life now to my life then, for good and for bad.

Every year on October 1st I take the time to journal a bit, to recognize how things are going, if I’m heading in the right direction and the right speed. And if life has improved (and it sure has) I raise a celebratory glass at the end of the evening.

Milestone dates are important markers to identify and recognize.

What are your milestone dates?