The Light Switch

It started with a complaint.

“Why are our power bills so high every month?” the finance head sighed in the Monday meeting. Everyone shrugged. The office was always buzzing, lights on in every corner, even in empty rooms. It wasn’t anyone’s job to turn them off.

That evening, as most people rushed home, Rhea stayed back to finish a report. When she got up to leave, she noticed the meeting room still glowing. She hesitated for a moment, thinking someone else would switch it off, but then she turned back and pressed the switch.

The soft click echoed in the quiet corridor. She went from room to room, turning off lights, one by one. When she finally reached the exit, she caught her reflection in the glass door - tired, but lighter somehow.

Next day, she did it again. Then again the next. No one noticed at first. But a week later, someone called out, “Wait, let’s check the conference room before we go.” A few smiled, then joined in.

Within a month, the office had changed. Not in some big, announced way - but in a hundred quiet gestures. People started switching off lights, closing tabs, shutting drawers properly. Someone even put a small sticker near the door: “Leave the place better than you found it.”

When the next bill came, the finance head looked surprised - a neat drop of fourteen percent. Rhea just smiled and said, “Sometimes, all it takes is one switch.”

Flash: Small acts, when done with intention, become contagious. In work and in life, we don’t need to wait for policies to make a difference, we just need to start.

Moral: Change begins quietly, but it speaks loudly when it’s from the heart.

The smallest light we turn off can awaken a brighter awareness!!