I don't know how widespread the trend is, but a current fashion is the Twitter 'hashtag' 'YOLO', which stands for 'You Only Live Once'.
So, for example, someone might post 'About to abseil off the Eiffel Tower. #YOLO'.
If you already knew that, and are sitting, cringing, at my terrible explanation, I apologise.
And, so, in the spirit of New Year reflectiveness, and a sudden need to analyse everything about my life now that it's 2013 (Happy New Year, by the way...), I have been thinking about whether I should be more embracing on the YOLO attitude.
The thing is, I'm only here one. I have one life, and then I die. Which is incredibly morbid, but also about the only certainty that there is. And what do I spend my life doing? I worry and I overthink and I don't eat anything.
And I've spent at least five years of my life being fairly miserable because of it.
What does it matter that I'm thin, or that I don't say certain words, or that everything I do revolves around the number three? Really? Because when I die, no-one's going to think about how I was a size 6, or how there were words that I couldn't say, or that everything I did was perfectly 'three'.
And so, in 2013 (which, by the way, is apparently a 'good' year, because it has a three in it...and the first year with a three in in that I can remember, because I was born in 1992), I am going to be more YOLO. I know that I'm not just going to get better because all of a sudden I've discovered that I'm going to die, and no-one really cares about whether I eat less than 400 calories a day, but I'm going to try my absolute hardest to begin to get better.
#YOLO
Hey - I love this!! I had never heard of YOLO - so thanks for the explanation.
ReplyDeleteI'm very over weight right now - about 40 pounds or so. Ugh. I hate it. But, there was a time when I reached my goal weight. You know what - my life was actually no better because of it. Literally, nothing changed. Oh, I could fit into cuter clothes, but that was it. That was a real shock to me. That life was not better at my "ideal" weight. I do want to safely lose weight now, only because of health reasons and because I'm at risk of diabetes, etc. But, because of my previous experience, I've definitely lost the illusion that my life will be better if I lose weight. Anyway, don't know if this helps you at all - but this was a big life lesson I learned and thought I'd pass it along. I know you are working hard to fight the eating disorder and I'm SOOOO proud of you. You CAN do it. And yes, YOLO!!!