“YOLO”, an acronym that came about all too suddenly in the early 2010’s. The oh so obvious phrase, “You Only Live Once,” began to really resonate with millennials, somehow justifying any stupid or ignorant decision we decided to make. It was looked down on to “catch feels” or take relationships too seriously. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there were those who felt that texting someone 24/7 meant that you were destined to surpass the “talking” phase into the dating phase into the whole “you’re not allowed to like anyone’s Instagram pictures if they’re of the opposite sex” phase.

We are currently living in a hypersensitive generation that is too scared to feel. We are full of oxymorons and hypocritical opinions. Labels both scare us and give us a sense of superiority because we are confident enough to know who we are and who we are not. We are Feminists and Activists and Christians and Atheists. We #StandWithHer and we want to #MakeAmericaGreatAgain. We feel the need to have our voices heard, yet we are too scared to offend anyone.

When did individuality cease? We claim to be unique and our own, yet we are constantly fitting in the molds that we think are expected of us. We YOLO our way through with our friends in order to remind ourselves that adrenalin is still the most natural way to get high.

Now, I’m not one to put gender as a reason for why things are the way they are. I don’t like gender bias and I do not stand for sexism. However, as a girl, I can say that in terms of relationships, it is damn hard to find how you want to “label” yourself. If you only want to hook up with someone? You are easy and a slu*. Why wouldn’t you want to play hard to get? Don’t you respect yourself or value yourself? And if you want to wait until marriage or you want an actual relationship? Don’t you know that you have to change X, Y, and Z about yourself? You should be more realistic about your chances sweetie… Booty calls are real but don’t you dare catch feelings because that would be wrong. Relationships are too much work, right?

What are we so loudly proclaiming to the universe when we think this way? Why aren’t we allowed to care? Why can’t we stop and let ourselves feel? It seems that we are setting ourselves up for anxious thoughts and self-esteem issues. We tell our demons that they are welcome only momentarily so that they can watch over us as they emerge from the darkness that comes from us blacking out x-times a week. We drink to not feel and smoke to feel something.

We convince ourselves that we do not care about that guy to avoid getting hurt. And when we honestly do not care, people try to convince us that we do. Stop telling us how to feel. Stop telling us where to put our thoughts. Let us decide to feel or not to feel. There are always thoughts in our minds that have been sitting for too long and eating away at us. Don’t give us reasons to tear apart our insides.

Yes, you do only live once. Why not make your life one that you truly care about and one that speaks volumes about what YOU want for yourself? Let yourself live for you and do NOT shy away from your feelings. Feel them at full volume and do not hesitate to speak your mind.