Acknowledging The Consequences Of Our Actions Is A Choice

And so is ignoring them

a cupcake with buttercream icing chases a scared runner in a dreamlike landscape, realistic 3d digital art — by DALL·E

Calorie Neutrality

I just saw Neil Tyson’s post about calorie choices: we can eat a cupcake with buttercream icing and offset the calorie intake by jogging for forty-five minutes, or we can achieve identical calorie neutrality by doing neither. Beyond the wit and after the chuckle, it made me think about how we are constantly bombarded by a barrage of such decisions. Mostly, every call we make is a trade-off. We get this in exchange for that, we open this door and forsake the other two, and we choose this combination of elements over any others at this point even if we ignore most of the said elements. There are no perfect decisions, only decisions we make and decisions others make for us.

Resolve

That said, we can resolve to be aware of some of the consequences of our actions. We can even learn to anticipate them. We can run every single day and achieve excellent physical form. We can play the piano for an hour every evening and become proficient. We can write five hundred words every morning and develop as a writer. We can read a book a week, educate ourselves in a field alien to us, or pick up crochet. The reality is we don’t have time for all of it. For those of us with myriad interests and an endless thirst for more, this is a…