Teenagers aren’t famous for making good decisions. They try stupid things, get into trouble, and justify themselves by shouting “YOLO”.
We may say “you only live once,” but, as high school students, we sometimes delude ourselves into thinking that we’re going to live forever.
And yet, we’re still trying to “live” as much as possible. Teenagers seek to fill the days of their youth with as many experiences and adventures as possible. Because while our lives may not be coming to an end, something else is: our days at Aragon. Whether you can count the time until your graduation in years, months, or days, we’re all still trying to make some great memories with the time we have left with this school and all the people in it.
No one wants to leave these hallways filled with disappointment, or come out of these four years filled with regret. No one wants to look back on their life and lament on decisions that they made or didn’t make.
Like high school, life is a balancing act. We all have a ridiculous task of achieving some mad type of feng shui in our lives. For high school students, this task comes from finding a balance between our future aspirations and our current fixations.
It’s an internal conflict we face daily: living practically or living existentially. Should students in high school plan for the future or live in the moment?
When a high school student becomes obsessed with their future, they begin over committing. The over-committed high school student works too hard and neglect friends. They stay up too late and wake up too early. They are constantly sacrificing crucial high school experiences in pursuit of acceptance into their dream college, pride from their family, or feelings of success from accomplishing their goals.
But while the future-obsessed high school student may find happiness later in life, their college-fueled grind often comes at the price of their high school experience. A person’s high school memories shouldn’t be able to all fit into a yearbook—a person has to have a life outside of their high school career.
But “yolo-ing” and focusing all of your time on pursuits outside of school has its dangers as well. Neglecting one’s future to live in the moment can have dire consequences. While staying up late partying is a lot more fun than staying up late studying, it can come at the price of one’s future. It’s something everyone has to be careful of—no one wants to peak in high school.
It’s all about finding a balance: some nights should be spent studying, and others should be spent partying. While both can make your head hurt the next morning, they’re both worth it. There are three awards one receives for surviving high-school: knowledge, experience and a diploma.
It’s been said that these years are a time to figure out who we are. No matter how long it is until you graduate, your four years at Aragon are guaranteed to be filled with “MLIAs” and memories, “ROFLs” and regrets.
We should all come out of it with more knowledge of life and, more importantly, ourselves.
But like the plot of literally every corny movie there is, one has to make a lot of mistakes before they can truly achieve something—especially when that something is as monumental as one’s happiness.
You only live once—it’s an interesting concept. Give too little and you end up regretful. Give too much and you end up empty.
Maybe that’s why YOLO isn’t just the motto for Drake: as stupid as it can be, YOLO can apply to everyone. Whether you’re worried about making too many mistakes or not making enough, you only have one shot at getting it right.
Because YOLO shouldn’t necessarily imply a disregard fir responsibility. The concept of only living once, Carpe Diem, and all the other philosophies behind YOLO advocate something more than just going crazy: they advocate living your life to it’s fullest.
YOLO combats the natural fear of failure. But why the crippling fear of failure severely inhibits one from growing through experience, a complete disregard of failure should not be advocated either. YOLO should not be synonymous with “Screw it,” because living one’s life to it’s fullest, as YOLO advocates, cannot be achieved if one begins to disregard their life. The fact that we only have one life to live doesn’t mean that that life should be taken less seriously; it means that the obstacles that inhibit us from living should be taken less seriously.
If you discover anything in high school, discover your balance. Treat failure like a math test: it’s not enjoyable, but it’s something that has to be done, and you’ll be better for it.
But at the same time, don’t spend your entire life taking math tests—You Only Live Once.
