The Recklessly Underrated Lesson Inspired By #YOLO | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Health and Wellness

The Recklessly Underrated Lesson Inspired By #YOLO

After all, you only live once.

142
The Recklessly Underrated Lesson Inspired By #YOLO
Unsplash / Joshua Rawson Harris

When a vast majority of people hear the word “YOLO,” they cringe. Most people associate idiotic teens and 20-somethings with the saying, undoubtedly thinking back to all those social media hits where someone does something dangerous and stupid, screaming, “YOLO” at the end of the video clip. Meanwhile, the rest of us "sensible people" watch with a touch of awe but mostly disdain for their stupidity, fear for the person's life and depending on the person, varying degrees of anxiety for the content on screen.

Was this a disrespectfully blasphemous video featuring the death of a human soul?

However, though that slogan might unwittingly be endorsing dangerous hooliganism, it is also endorsing something much more valuable. It's endorsing the ephemeral-ness of life. It's endorsing discovery, creativity and meaning. It is by disregarding YOLO, and by extension, disregarding the importance of time, that the majority of us make our gravest mistake. Too frequently, it is forgotten that YOLO is merely an abbreviation of "You Only Live Once." Instead, most of us go through our whole lives chasing success of the monetary sort.

For a classic example, let's take a look at the perfect life, the epitome of success endorsed by nearly all.

The moment a toddler has mastered the skills of walking, talking and walking and talking, he/she is often dumped into an educational daycare center, where the child begins their long, winding road to a successful life. After the child reaches first grade, life is dominated by letters — S for Satisfactory, E for excellent — a prequel for the next seven years, where the letters become numbers, and they dictate a child's worth in greater detail. After high school graduation, the young adult attempts to attend a prestigious college. By now, the person has hopefully accumulated a collection of prestigious degrees. Failure to do so means that such a person is also a failure. Around now, the successful person will find a prestigious full-time job. For the next several decades, this person will be working and working until he or she manages to rack up an adequate amount of money for retirement. Only now can the middle-aged person have fun with their family and friends until time runs out.

SEE ALSO: 40 Weird Terms That Millennials Invented, Explained

This is how we visualize an "ideal life," to be — free of financial worry and filled with love and lots of free time later in life.

So, of course, it's only natural that most people will attempt to reach that dream. Unfortunately, most people will end up sacrificing an unprecedented amount of dreams, desires and time in the pursuit of this generally agreed upon ideal of success. And unfortunately, most people will be unable to retire as early as they'd like, leaving them close to no time at all, not to mention those who don't manage to stick out that long.

The importance of personal time is insurmountable. It's necessary for dreaming and fantasizing, and simply taking care of oneself, physically, mentally and socially. More often than not, however, it is disregarded and overlooked in the pursuit of some tangible forms of success. The motto, "You Only Live Once," forces us to take a critical eye on our current life. Are we so busy chasing success that we have forgotten to make time for the now?

Life is wonderful. We ought to fill it with wonder, happiness, and fulfillment while we still can. We ought to take risks before we regret them — or worse, lose the chance to forever.

What do you wish to achieve before the end?

Do you wish to go skydiving in Fiji? Take a backpacking tour around Europe? Ask out that very attractive person you've been eyeing for the past year?

Stop procrastinating, and fill out a bucket list. Pepper it with checks of completion. Go skydiving in Fiji, splurge on a backpacking trip around Europe and talk to the possible love of your life. Do them all, and do them soon, for the end might come sooner than desired. We live in a world of infinite possibilities, so let's take advantage of them while we still can.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Student Life

Things You Can Get Away With Now That You're At College

83% of my trends in college would have been shamed in high school.

816
college life
Google Images

Transitioning from high school to college can be a stressful experience, especially if you're like me and hate change. Over the past two years I've realized there's many things I couldn't get away with in High School that are typically applauded in college.

1. Eat

Keep Reading...Show less
Blair Waldorf

Life is hard. You know what makes it even more tough? Living with chronic b*tch face (CBF). This condition is so debilitating that I have decided to chronicle the 10 things everyone who suffers from CBF experiences. Who better to help me than the queen of CBF herself, Blair Waldorf?

Keep Reading...Show less
Harvard Students

I thought senioritis in high school was rough until I became a college senior about to go into the real world. I'm supposed to have everything figured out, right? I mean I went through four years of tough classes and serious self-searching (and crying). What I found overall was Senioritis sneaking up on me.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

8 Texts You Get From Your High School Friends

You might not see them everyday anymore, but you're still friends and your text messages prove it.

576
High School Friends
Ashlynn West

It takes a little while to get used to not seeing your high school best friends every day. Going away to college causes a lot of changes, but one thing that will never change is my love for my high school BFFs, and the texts that I get from them. Here are just 8 of the texts I get from them on the weekly:

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

13 Things College Kids Do That They Know They Shouldn't

Sometimes these things are both necessary and inevitable.

29502
legally blonde

College is filled with many things, and we're so often lectured to make the right decisions as we head out on our own into the college life. But sometimes it's necessary to indulge in some guilty pleasures as well as just doing things because you can. And honestly, a lot of the time it's inevitable. College is no piece of cake that's for sure, so it's okay to do some things you deep down know you shouldn't....once in a while anyways.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments