Quote Originally Posted by cherish
What makes you decide that something is important in your life?
As Marius said: When asked that way, it's indeed a very general question. But I guess I know what you mean (actually, you clarified it somewhat later on).

Well, my answer is that you never (or only very rarely) know in advance. If you did, all decisions would be easy, and life would probably be pretty boring...

Tiny little events which influence your life / future (to the good or to the bad) keep happening all the time - some have very little effect, some have significant impact, and yet some prove to be true turning points in your life. However, you usually only find out during the aftermath (sometimes only years later) that something that looked like an unconspicious little detail at first (like a phone call received / a particular seat taken on a train / a specific link clicked in a Google serch result list instead of another) has actually been the single causal event that turned your life upside down.

// Two movies come to mind which have their storyline based on this very subject: "Run Lola Run" (one of the few German / European productions that made it into the US cinemas), and "Sliding Doors".