YOLO

Good afternoon and welcome back to this afternoon's blog. I trust you all had a safe and happy weekend. I certainly did - another trophy for Arsenal and another win over the champions. With the new season less than 2 weeks away, it is certainly a positive way to start off the campaign. After a couple of weeks of some different style blogs, today I am back with another thought-provoking, philosophical blog that makes you question what the purpose of life itself is (another blog coming very soon). We are all afraid of things in life, be it a new challenge or simply just trying something different from the menu of your favourite restaurant. What differentiates between the shy and the bold is our ability to face things head on rather than cower away from them. I will start by asking you one simple question. Which category do you fall into (feel free to comment your answers below)?

The first thing that I feel needs addressing is how this links in with the title. YOLO stands for 'You Only Live Once', which ties in nicely with the reason we should not be afraid to try things and push our own boundaries. I have said it before that life is too short to play safe, and we only have the one life (credit goes to Dani for suggesting the title).

So why do we shy away from new challenges, and instead be boring with the things that we know and love? Well, this is where I refer back to self-confidence and believing in yourself. We should want to tackle things with full force, but our human nature means we are more cautious and withdrawn. You have to tell yourself that you can do something, even if you don't think you can. We must be brave and make that leap into the unknown.

Obviously, there are various levels of challenges that can affect our ability to find our inner-strength and courage. You all will have a favourite restaurant (McDonald's doesn't count). There will be that one dish on the menu that will be used as your go-to dish when you can't choose what to have. But the real reason we stick to that same plate of food is that we think to ourselves 'What if I order something different and don't like it?' We are afraid to send it back for that reason, and we have the knowledge that a bad meal might put us off our favourite restaurant in the future. So we play it safe and go for the American from Pizza Express every time (and now you know where to take me out).

The we have the other extreme. Have you ever wanted to do something crazy-sounding or potentially dangerous? You might have a dream of sky diving or bungee jumping. You might have an urge to swim with sharks. Whatever it might be, the voice of health and safety in our heads tells us that it's not a good thing to do. We have to fight that urge and take the first step towards organising it. After this point, we start to become more accepting of what is about to happen and seem more willing to take the plunge into the deep end. If we are permanently afraid of obstacles, quite frankly we might as well spend all day every day in bed (although this doesn't sound too bad). Look online what you want to try, and make a call. Do your research. Put the wheels in motion towards a dream, no matter how crazy it sounds. If it's something that you have always wanted to do, then it's worth the chance.

This is where I throw in a disclaimer - I am not a psychologist or a behaviour expert. Honestly, I never follow the advice I give about these topics. This is just how I feel we behave in certain situations and how we can overcome them. We all want to make the most of our time on this planet, for it is only a tiny fraction within existence. And unless you take my 'Past Lives' blog literally, when we're gone we're gone (you know I love a good self-promo).

Have a good week, stay safe, and on Friday I attempt to answer one of the biggest questions ever asked.

And remember, YOLO.

Connor

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