YOLO

YOLO- aka the most overused and joked about phrase of 2013. I now use it ironically; turning left at an intersection? "YOLO!" Eating ice cream right after working out? "YOLO!" You get the idea.

You only live once.

Now, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I know that I don't just live once (unless you count all of eternity as "once", in which case sure, I guess it applies). We know there is life after this mortal existence. Our Savior has made it so. However, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't live our mortal life to its fullest.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a woman at work and she was lamenting about her broken body, about how she has this list of all of these things that she wished she could do but will never accomplish. Her age and the deconditioned state of her body makes it impossible for her to enjoy even a simple bike ride. To paraphrase her words, "I have always wanted to skydive, to white water raft, to hike the highest mountains I could find. I should have done all of those things while I still could, when I was young and healthy and had the energy. Now, it is physically impossible for me to do any of those things."

This really made me stop and think. How many of us go through life constantly saying "one day"? One day I'll take that trip to Paris. One day I'll raft the Colorado River. One day I'll be in good enough shape to run a half marathon. One day I'll learn the piano. One day I'll volunteer on a regular basis. One day...one day... Well you know what I say to that? YOLO.

Seriously though, think about it. Many of these goals that I mentioned are completely doable, even while raising a family or working a full time job. They just take more planning. I say let's stop dreaming and start doing. What stops us from fulfilling our dreams? Fear? Lack of money or time? Too many commitments? It's something to think about.

The fact that I have always wanted to live in Montana and that I therefore stepped and made it happen makes me even more excited about this topic. I could have easily taken the easy route of staying in Arizona and simply worked and kept doing the same things I had been doing forever. But when the opportunity came for me to pack everything up and move to Montana, I almost didn't even have to think about it before I knew it was going to happen. It was like the dream that I had always wanted to fulfill just kind of clicked into place, and I knew if I didn't do it now, when would I?

I realize I have made it easier on myself to chase my dreams- I am about as single as they come, with no other responsibilities except work and paying bills. I don't have to take care of any children, cook and clean for a household, or fit into anyone else's schedule. I know its a luxury, which is why I am living it up while I can.

The majority of my friends are married, and I am in NO WAY talking down to those who are married or saying my life is better than theirs. Our lives are completely different, but on the same plane, neither one being better or worse. I am just trying to say that please, please don't let your lives get so busy that you let the years pass by without doing the things that you have always dreamed of doing. That is one of my biggest fears in life, is not taking opportunities when they come my way. Start saving up, start planning, whatever it takes. Make it happen. Don't be like the woman at my work who looks back on her life full of regret and wishing. Even though she will have a perfect body and will be able to experience those things in the next life, why wait? This mortal existence is an experience that I like to think is made up of a million little experiences.

Don't just go through life simply existing. Make it about the experience.