The Real Meaning of YOLO

Ian Tang
2 min readNov 28, 2015

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The Real Meaning of YOLO

It is the acronym for “You Only Live Once”. Due to the ever-increasing popularity of the catchphrase, many have misunderstand the meaning behind it. To many, this acronym have become an excuse to act rashly or do something really dumb. It has become the common response to most of the questions that demands why something have to done for youths.

So what YOLO really means? It is not about making rash or stupid choices when you are drunk or being a complete bozo.YOLO has a deeper meaning behind it. Similar to carpe diem, which implies “seize the day” in Latin. YOLO is a phrase to constantly remind us, that you only live once and we have to make the best out of the days we have.

It means to seize the day, to make your life extraordinary, to chase your dreams, to live your life to the fullest and sometimes even doing something you don’t usually do so that you have a story to tell for the rest of your life.

It will not be wise to use YOLO for everything you do. It is okay to let loose, have some fun and even being a complete bozo at times. But understand that YOLO was never an excuse to commit silly decisions.

Life is short, if you turn around you might miss it. So take YOLO as a reminder to live an extraordinary life.

After all, you only live once.

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Ian Tang

I speak on Marketing, Social Media, Sales and any combination of the three. https://www.instagram.com/Iantang