You Only Live Once

Why do you do what you do? Every person makes countless numbers of decisions to do certain things on a daily basis, it can be as simple as making cereal for breakfast to as complex and life changing as finding a spouse you will spend the rest of your life with. But what drives you to do these particular things? Often times we don’t even fully think about what we do unless it is something major and requires our full, undivided attention. So when I was asked the question “Why do you do what you do?” it was challenging for me at the start. I really struggled with trying to find the answer to why I do the things that I do everyday because I do certain things for different reasons, to please my parents, to get good grades, to make friends, to live a healthy lifestyle, etc. These were all just typical boring answers and I didn’t want that to be my answer. Then I realized that this was going to require some time, thought, and reflection on my life.

I kept asking myself why do you do what you do? Then it finally dawned on me, “because you only live once”. On the surface it’s pretty broad and open ended, of course you only get to live your life once, but there is more to it than that. I have really grown to believe this statement and pretty much live by it since coming to UCLA. At UCLA both inside and outside of the classroom I have failed and messed up more then I ever have in the past, but at the same time I have grown and learned from these mistakes to become a better, more successful person. I do what I do because I only get one chance to live; I try to live with no regrets, even the mistakes I make, I try not to regret because that is how you learn. As legendary coach, John Wooden put it, “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes”. Once you do something you can’t go back and fix it, what’s done is done, the only thing you can do is learn from it and move on and correct it for the future.

As a college student you are on your own without your parents for the first time. You get to pick and choose what you do and when you do it. With this in mind you only live once, so if you mess up now, it can hurt you later in life as well.  Now is the time to learn all these things, which is what I have tried to do with my life. I have accepted that now is the time to make mistakes and learn from them. It is the most forgiving time of life in that sense. I try to live everyday like it is my last because you never know when it is going to end, you only get one chance to have a journey through life so you might as well make the most of it. I always try and live my life to the fullest and do at least one positive thing everyday because with only one life to live, I might as well live it the best I can. So when asked why do you do what you do? I respond by saying “because you only live once!” make the most of it because you can’t go back and do it over.

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