You need only face the consequences

I recently finished reading Meditations for Mortals, and while the book is only "ok", it had this quote that stuck with me.

The truth, though it often makes people indignant to hear it, is that it’s almost never literally the case that you have to meet a work deadline, honour a commitment, answer an email, fulfil a family obligation, or anything else. The astounding reality – in the words of Sheldon B. Kopp, a genial and brilliant American psychotherapist who died in 1999 – is that you’re pretty much free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences.

You don’t have to answer. You don’t have to show up. You don’t have to do anything, really. You just have to deal with the fallout. And I’d argue that in a lot of cases, the fallout’s just a story you’re telling yourself. One that isn’t half as bad as you think.