MILESTONES. We cross them every day without realising them sometimes.

And I am not talking about the milestones that are used to mark distances on our roads.

Today, these have been replaced with metal signboards that measure distance by kilometres instead.

On some off-highway roads in the country, you can still pass by the old-fashioned milestones, but I reckon all will disappear eventually.

But what about the milestones in our life?

Are they marked only by the very defining moments – birth, graduation, marriage, first job, retirement, death – or do we also mark the more personal moments that have a great impact on our lives?

At work, for example, some of us may switch jobs ever so often, or are regularly transferred from one department to another, that we do not really see them as milestones.

Likewise at home, in the course of taking care of our parents, or bringing up our own children, what are the milestones we should keep in our treasure trove of memories?

In my more melancholic mood, I often go through old photo albums because photographic evidence is often a good guide to the milestones in our lives.

But behind every photo, there is always a range of reflections that demarcates the real milestones that one photograph cannot reveal.

The many photos of my boys celebrating their birthdays remind me of the joy and despair of parenting.

A photo of my mother celebrating her 89th birthday reminds me of the toils and struggles of her being a mother to nine children and of the many stories I have yet to hear from her.

For many of us, the natural progression at the workplace is to start as a junior worker, slowly working our way up to be a section manager, a department head, and hopefully as CEO one day.

Some of us take the road less travelled, and we somehow are able to enjoy the richness of life that becomes part of the journey.

I truly believe it is all about people, those who come into our lives by choice or by circumstances, that are the real milestones in our lives.

Who are the people who have made the most impact in your life? Was it a teacher, a boss, a public figure, or just a homeless man by the sidewalk that you passed by every day during one phase of your life?

Modern day society teaches us to be materialistic, so our focus is on monuments and structures. Even the name card we hand out every day is a material possession that focuses on our position more than our character.

And because that is the focus, we spend a lot of time chasing things to uplift the position, in the hope that at the end of the day, that is the true definition of who we are.

A common saying beseeches us to “use things, love people” but oftentimes, it is the reverse.

A young man reminded me recently, “Does it really matter if our room gets bigger or smaller, when at the end of it all, the space our body needs is the size of a coffin?”

The milestones I cherish most are not the ones about successes and failures, but about people who made a real difference in my life.

They are family, friends, and even total strangers. Sometimes, all it needs is a casual remark or a comforting word to push us onwards in this journey of life.

> Deputy executive editor Soo Ewe Jin was all choked up as he watched his second son receive his degree at the convocation ceremony in Putrajaya yesterday. It is a milestone that cannot adequately record the real milestones of a father-son relationship that we sometimes take for granted in the blind pursuit of inconsequential things.

• Doc held for posing as cop to extort businessman
• If you want to go far work early and hard on personal branding
• AirAsia X offers free tickets to any destination for initial public offering to retail investors
• Cyclone takes the heat for hot weather
• Allianz aims for RM150mil in new premiums
• Couple upset over baby’s death
• Malaysia's I-Bhd and Thailand's CPN in mall joint venture with GDV of RM580mil
• From tomorrow, city cabbies can pick up passengers from KLIA
• Todd was under treatment for depression, public inquiry told
• Bomoh tricks desperate wife