We often live life with little thought for the small things we do. Living in consequence is not necessarily about all the big decisions we have to make in life either, but rather understanding all the actions we take from the moment we wake up to the time we put our head on the pillow at night.
When we consider what we do every day from the time we awake to the time we go to sleep, a lot of it happens on autopilot. Monday to Friday may look slightly different to the weekend but generally we find ourselves in a routine. Monday morning the alarm goes off and we hit the snooze button, until we absolutely have to get up. We reluctantly drag our semi-asleep body to the bathroom, followed by the kitchen. We press a few buttons in hope to wake up, once the sweet perfume of caffeine has infiltrated our cells. But because we hit snooze one too many times, we find ourselves rushing around again to make it to work and there is no time to even enjoy the coffee. We have to haste the kids out of the house. We have to run to make it to the train, but like the week before, we miss it. Then we do the same things at work, and we rush from meeting to meeting, and have the same conversations ten times about what activities we participated in on the weekend. Then we have our mid-morning coffee to ensure that our energy levels don’t plummet too soon because we went to bed late again the night before, watching mind-numbing TV shows. It keeps repeating all throughout the week. The only difference between Monday and Friday is that people ask us about our plans for the weekend instead of what we did last weekend. And the sad part, no one actually cares.
A day turns into a week. A week turns into a month, and then into a year and we spend most of it trying to catch up and do better the next day, only to find ourselves doing the same thing yet again and time seems to escape us. We even spend time talking to others how time runs faster now. We fill our days with meaningless conversations either about the past or the future and wonder why we are never in the present. We seem to not understand why the days just slip away from us and we can never get on top of things, even if we tried. We often think that hitting the snooze button today won’t matter, because we can do better tomorrow. We think that having conversations that no one cares about doesn’t matter, because we all have them and it is a way of fitting in and showing interest. We think that the running around is just how it is. Is that really the most beneficial way for all of us though? Does the constant repeat of the same actions not also equal a reaction and consequences?
Whilst most people are familiar with the concept of “actions lead to consequences”, in our daily life, we don’t think much about it. We rarely consider consequences of everyday small choices as important. It is only when we are faced with life-altering decisions, that we weigh up our actions and the possible ramifications. To live in consequence is more than just thinking about big actions, but considering the small decisions we make daily. It is often the smallest decisions that carry the biggest weight. To live every day with meaning means to be deliberate with every action, with every conversation, with every word that leaves our mouth, and with every step we take. It means to start being conscious and waking up in a world that so desperately tries to keep us asleep by doing mind-numbing things. It is about taking control back of our life and not finding ourselves on the back foot constantly.
To live in consequence is about becoming aware of everything we do and understanding why we do it. It is about comprehending whether the unconscious habit that we action every day is the one that is holding us back. It is about breaking the cycle of keeping ourselves stuck and being fully awake from the moment we wake up. It is about knowing whether succumbing to the seduction of coffee will help us with our future or hold us back. It is about stopping to negotiate with ourselves why we need to hit the snooze button and just getting up. It is about noticing the things we usually miss, like the wonders of the world and nature around us. It is about setting things in motion that conversations can shift from meaningless rubbish about something or someone, to impactful discussions that leave us in awe and challenge our thinking, so we can grow.
So find it within yourself to not just open those pretty eyes of yours when the alarm goes off, but to fully awake to life and to everything it has to offer. Awake to every action that you undertake and say “no” to the one that don’t serve you. It is only then, when you live in consequence, that you realise that you don’t even need an alarm clock or the caffeine because there is no amount of tiredness that could keep you from the endless possibilities this precious thing called life has to offer.