WHEN people say Yolo, they mean “You Only Live Once”. To the common millennial, it would be understood as a license to do stupid things because he or she will never get a chance to do stupid things again.
If you really think about it, though, if I do a stupid thing I know it will have severe repercussions. Some examples include: skydiving (you could die), breaking a law (you could go to jail), having premarital sex (you could get pregnant), skipping out on school (you could get a reprimand) and not studying (you could fail the semester and repeat a course or two). All the things that Yolo advocates are things that have the probability of getting you into one horrid consequence after another.
If you really have only one life, then your time here is very precious.
Not only that: your life cannot be undone.
This means once you make a decision, there is neither a rewind button nor a hallway pass out of the foreseeable consequences that you knowingly walk into. So if you really, really value your life, and if you really, really want to have a good time, a good life, then you will have to skip out on the bad-slash-dangerous things.
I’m speaking from the perspective of one who has taken the bad-slash-dangerous turns, and each and every one of those turns has led me to tears, heartache, consequences, trouble, fights and everything you do not want to experience in your one, precious life. So I guess what I am trying to say is, from the perspective of having gone through the bad side, it is definitely not worth it.
The thing about bad consequences is that it is a chain of one thing causing another. Let’s say, you don’t study well, you get low grades, you don’t graduate on time, your parents don’t see you as a good student, you get a job while studying, you get in with the wrong crowd, and then one day you wake up and see that your life has taken one wrong turn too many.
The beauty of this is that it works the other way around, too. One good tends to multiply over time.
You do your work well, and that person recommends you to someone. You get another job, and are forced to get better. You make improvements and soon, your path is on a roll. You don’t have to exert as much effort because your skills are honed, and everyone trusts you to do the job well. These are just singular examples of how it goes.
In any case, whether you are on a good roll or a bad roll, it only takes one moment to change the way things are going. You only live once, and that once happens now. That’s right. Right now. Now is your once in a lifetime chance to create not just your now, but your future as well. That is the freedom of life. That is also its heavy burden, which the fate of your life lies solely in your choices right now.
So take courage, stand up and be truthful to the song in your soul. Live your passions and love your loved ones the best way you know how. Give life all you have to give right now. After all, you only live once.