Until and unless you decide to do something about it, don't lift anything heavy, say more than 30 lbs. If you must lift something that has weight to it don't bend over and pick it up with your back which you gotta keep straight. Lift with your legs.
You're at risk for worsening the hernia, or worse yet, given that disc problems don't occur in isolation, you've probably got one or more bulging disks that could easily rupture.
None of this is life threatening or will cause paralysis or anything like that. It's estimated that over a third of the population is walking around with herniated disks and don't know it, because it's all about which direction the herniated tissue goes. If it's in any other direction but the nerve, you'd never know. But if it hits the nerve, that's when all hell breaks loose.
It's all about the pain and whether it's bad enough to do anything about it.
I've also read that sometimes with exercise and weight loss if the person is overweight, the condition can possibly self resolve.