“We are very good at preparing to live but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice 10 years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Entering my birth year on one of those online dropdown forms now requires a hefty spin of the wheel like I’m a contestant on The Price is Right. It’s a reminder of mortality and the incessant march of time. Coupled with the unreasonable number of people I know who’ve received terrifying diagnoses — or dropped dead unexpectedly — of late, it would be easy to become maudlin about the whole thing and start ranting about the “good ol’ days.”
The aphorism YOLO (You Only Live Once) emerged in the early 2010s. It carries a taste of risk, of to-hell-with-the-consequences, tinged with GenX’s “whatever” attitude. It can be applied positively or negatively, as in, “I can jump off this bridge/crash this car/invest all my savings in this multi-level marketing scheme. YOLO.” or, “I can find something today for which to be grateful, to appreciate, to celebrate.”
The former approach is a little lazy and often ends in disaster. The latter approach requires focus and attention, and isn’t likely to be splashy or dramatic, but it promises greater satisfaction in the long run.
Let the ranters rant in all caps about the woes of the world. Let the future-thinkers waste the now — the only time they have — worrying about or longing for the next big event. Let the ruminators wallow in regret over time wasted or mistakes that were made.
Or we can choose to remember that we are alive in the only moment we have. Now.
