Most of you don’t think about the effects your choices can make on your future. You think that you can do whatever you want and it won’t make a difference in the long run. You think that one drink won’t affect you. That one smoke of the cigarette will won’t affect you. The list goes on. 

Here’s the thing:

Every choice you make can and will affect your future. Even if it is as small as not studying for a test. Sure, it might not affect you the first time you don’t study but it will soon become a habit. You will begin to not study for any of your tests because you think you can just wing it without any preparation. Then, when it’s time to take your ACT you will not do well because you chose not to study. That choice might cause you to not get into the college The college has the best program for what you want to major in. Now you may have caused yourself to not be able to have the career you want. All because of that one time you chose not to study. 

Hey, how about that one time when you thought one drink would be fine?

Soon enough that one drink will lead to a second, then a third, then a fourth, and before you know it, you find yourself sitting in a jail cell. Since you chose to make the choice to take a drink, you got drunk, then got into a car and killed a family because you were driving while drunk. Not only are you stuck in a jail cell for the rest of your life, but you must live with the guilt of killing a whole family. 

Remember that time when you refused to say no to the cigarette your friend offered to you? 

That one smoke of the cigarette will lead to another, then another, and so on. Then all of a sudden you are diagnosed with lung cancer or other serious diseases such as heart disease. You chose to not say no when your friend offered you a cigarette. You chose to stick that cigarette into your mouth. Now you can’t stop. Since you made the choice to smoke, you might spend the rest of your life battling cancer. 

What about finishing college and becoming the lawyer you always dreamed to be? Nope, you can’t do that. What about all the places you wanted to travel to? Nope, can’t do that either. All because of your choice to take a drink. Your choice to smoke that first cigarette.

I am not trying to scare you or anything, but see how one choice can completely alter your life?

You don’t have to have the future that I described above. You can make the choice to study. The choice to say no when offered a drink or a cigarette. If you want a future of achieving your dreams, of being the person you want to be, and having a life filled with opportunities, start by making wise choices early on in your life.