Values are not simply ideas we hold; they are the roadmap to the destinations we seek to embody, and, by extension, the person we are becoming in every unfolding day. Looking at values through a consequentialist lens means taking ownership of what we are and are not willing to struggle with to support what we care about. Everything in life has an opportunity cost, where what is engaged in means not being able to engage in something else, certainly not at the same time. Further, everything we do has second- and third-order ripple effects that we may not appreciate, but are inevitable parts of the life package that decisions come in.
What you say yes to. What you say no to. These are the boundaries that define the structure for the meaning and purpose you’re developing as a life you’ve decided is worth living. They are also signals to those others in your life about the degree of connection between what you say and what you follow through with.
