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Only a few choices seem big at the moment you're making them. You look down a long aisle of a church and see the person you're marrying--that's a big choice. You look down at the contract you're about to sign for a thirty-year mortgage on a house. That seems big, too, even though you can sell the house, if you choose.
Most choices, though, don't come with a resounding trumpet blast announcing "This Is Big!" Many are small, sneaky moments that you don't even really notice unless you're paying attention.
One night with a hot guy and an old condom. Leaving a sleeping child in a car while you run into a store for one small minute. Buying your kid a toy every time she whines in the store. Flirting with the new woman at work, even though you're married. Gunning your car to race through the traffic light that's turning yellow.
Our lives are filled with small choices. Some can have huge consequences. Life-altering, life-ending or just frustrating consequences. We have to remember that each action we take has a consequence. With this clearly in focus, we are more likely to give each action the thought it needs.
When you're out partying with your friends and blowing off steam from a crappy week or month, be aware of how one choice can change your life…and those choices get blurrier when you've had a few. Getting pulled over for a DUI is only one possibility. What if the hot guy you have sex with has Chlamydia? Or HIV or venereal warts? Getting wasted at the club might have more consequences than you ever thought.
If you run the yellow/red traffic light, you might get one of those tickets in the mail, but you might also have a bad meeting with a semi-truck.
Watching the television news report about these kind of moments, you might say, "How could they be so stupid?" But when you're in the moment, things may not be so clear. The urge to cut corners can be strong. Even more likely are the everyday choices that have relationship consequences. The fight with your spouse that never gets resolved. The times you promise your kid you'll be home and you don't make it because you have other priorities.
Never think that your actions and your words don't make that big a difference. What you do--or don't do--matters. Your choices effect your relationships, your work experience and your credit rating. You are very powerful. You get to be in charge of you, every day. While this may not seem like a big deal, it really is huge. Even in situations in which you don't feel like you have much choice, you get to choose how you function, how you behave. You have power over who you are.
In most situations, you get to choose what you do, where you do it and who you're with. It's your power. You get to make the choices and they bring certain consequences. Big or little, your actions create your life.
