Turning Points

Have you ever noticed how odd life is? There are huge stretches of time when you're settled into a routine; you know when and where you're going to be every single day of the year. It feels comfortable, reassuring. But boy, isn't it dull?
Other times - sure, not so frequent - everything is up for grabs. These are the turning points of your life. You know that after they're gone, you can just settle right back down into the (new!improved!) mind-numbing routine of your slightly altered life, but while these times are upon you, you feel scared, anxious and exhilarated.
I'm going through one of these moments right now. After deciding with my girlfriend that I would move down with her whilst she was at university, we settled into a nice appartment in the city. As she studied, I worked - a nice little office job: boring, badly paid, unfulfilling, but comfortable. This part of my life has now come to an end, and I know that the next six months are going to be a whirlwind of activity.
I have decided to do a PhD, proposing to write a thesis on "the longest and most boring Latin poet". Putting all my eggs into one basket, I only applied to two (prestigious) universities. These take an age to be processed, during which time I have been a nervous wreck, agitated and snappy, neither quality endearing me to my girlfriend.
To counter this - and to give her some peace, she came up with an astonishing idea to combat my anxiety. "If," she said, "you don't manage to get into university, why don't we buy one of those round-the-world plane tickets and go see the world?"
It was a stroke of genius, deflecting all my frets and worries. Now I'm genuinely excited by both possibilites - either I'll be a PhD student after summer, or I'll be jaunting off to see the world. Either way, this year is going to be one of those important moments - a real turning point!