Life altering decisions can be many things, halachic and not halachic, such as where to focus my energies (teaching,’programs, best parnassa to help out my husband etc), whether to go to a certain sleep away camp for the summer, whether I should give birth at home or a hospital after doing the medical and halachic research, what should we do in our current financial situation etc etc
All if those should have a live rav, not your “own interpretation of selected passages”.