What does YOLO actually mean

[Music]

so

welcome to my ted talk my name is sari

ida and i’m here today to talk about the

yolo mentality

but before you jump to any assumptions

please let me elaborate on

why more people should use the yolo

mentality in their regular day-to-day

lifestyles

i know you might be thinking well why

should i use my important time

on this ted talk about some naive

mentality when i could be using my time

wisely

however i’m here today to explain what

the acronym yolo actually means

it’s pretty self-explanatory as you all

may know

yolo stands for you only live once

the term yolo has had such a huge impact

on who i am

and yes sometimes it did lead me to make

some

embarrassing mistakes but without this

mentality

i would not be standing here today and

keep in mind i’m not talking about the

reckless yolo mentality which functions

to justify

impulsive and irresponsible behavior

rather i’m here today

to spread the positive and healthy

meaning of the yolo mentality

i will be talking about how i overcame

the notorious shy kid

and the difficulties associated with

this profile

through my own story picture this

elementary school me not a word to my

teachers

classmates and friends

i was that one kid in class who would

never speak

and if i did my teacher would put their

hand on their ear and go speak up

because of how quiet i was i’d only talk

if i got called on

and when i was younger i barely had any

friends

and when i say that i mean it would no

exaggeration

my teachers had to tell my classmates to

try talking to me

and some of them had to convince my own

classmates

that i’m not weird and i’m just shy

however when i did get to know people i

loved it

i realized how much i love the human

connection

however something inside of me stopped

me from doing this and

i didn’t know what it was because

at home i wasn’t quiet at all in fact

my mom would even tell me to use my

inside voices

how ironic i only use my voice when i’m

not supposed to

i moved to scarsdale new york in the

second grade

i made some friends but when i came back

to japan in the fifth grade

i was still quiet and my teachers

had to do that thing again to force my

friends to be nice to me

and to be honest at that point i was

pretty used to it

i mean it was a me problem that others

tried to fix

so to graduate elementary school we had

to do

this thing called the fifth grade fifth

grade exhibition

and that was a nightmare the exhibition

was a huge end of the year event where

classmates would pair up

to present a global issue

my friends were grouped together without

me and i was all alone

with two boys who i had barely talked to

for me this was almost a death sentence

one i had to communicate with people who

i’m not close to

two i had to present it from the school

teachers

and parents and three i had to do

my least favorite things putting myself

out there and being vulnerable

so a month passes and it’s the day of

the exhibition

surprise i was my shy and awkward self

refused to talk and hid in the bathroom

and i was just wishing that this

miserable day would end already

i ultimately ended up doing my

presentation with my

group but my eyes were focused on the

ground the whole entire time

i doubt the audience even heard half of

the things i was saying considering the

fact that i was mumbling into the mic

i feel horrible for my group members as

my poor presentation and communication

skills would

also reflect on their grade for this

major project

transitioning to a few years later i

transferred to a new school

a japanese school

where i lunch with my homeroom teacher

for the first few months

it’s okay you guys can laugh still i

avoided

all interactions that required talking

for example

even at the supermarket when they asked

if i needed a plastic bag

i would just stand there and nod

i hated that i cared so much about how i

would come across to other people

and what other people might think of me

i hated how my negativity occupied

many of my thoughts and made it

difficult for me to communicate with

i hated the way i was being so weak for

being for not being able to do the

normal things

that other people can do so

as any teenager would do i went online

to search for what is wrong with me

do i have social anxiety or is this just

my personality

all of these thoughts and questions

dominated my headspace

and my neck and my mentality was very

weak and negative

overall now that i think about it

this time in my life was probably when i

hit rock bottom

but you know what that means it can only

go up from there

i knew how much i loved talking to

people who i was comfortable with

the only obstacle that was stopping me

from this was me being shy and awkward

this was when i realized that i had to

make a change

though it took me about 13 years to

realize i began looking for ways to

improve myself

while also acknowledging the fact that

it wouldn’t be easy

this was when i thought of the yolo

mentality

i recognize that my shyness has come

from self-consciousness

negative self-preoccupation low

self-esteem

and fear of judgment i also noticed that

i often made

unrealistic social comparisons hitting

myself against

the most vibrant or outgoing individuals

and telling myself that i could never be

one of them

i mean i still do this at times and i’m

still working on it

but i realized that i have to believe in

myself and that i only live once

so i need to do what i have to and want

to do

even if it’s something as small as like

telling the person in front of you that

they’ve dropped something or even saying

hi to someone in the hallways

freshman year was when my debate journey

began i continued debate

all through 9th 10th and 11th grade

and even won a speaker ward i also

entered the speech contest

twice and was awarded the all-star award

both times

on top of that i was an emcee at csun’s

annual talent show and during the summer

i also volunteered at a summer camp

which forced me to go outside my comfort

zone i’m also in

the student council and now i’m here

doing a ted talk

i also want to mention that i’m proud of

these accomplishments

but i’m also proud of the ones that

nobody really talks about

after gaining this mentality i was able

to make friends

i joined multiple clubs actively

participated in class

talk to teachers when i need help and

gained

the ability to talk to anyone without

being afraid

public speaking has now become my

passion

and it’s something that i’m very

comfortable with

many say that public speaking is a skill

that you were born with

but i think my case disproves this myth

i was able to develop these skills as

you can see from my rocky past

i certainly was not born with public

speaking skills

but because of my efforts and growth i’m

here today

doing a ted talk i would have never

dreamed of such a thing

going back to my first question i asked

in the very beginning

what does yolo mentality mean to me

i believe that the yolo mentality is a

reminder to do what i

what i really want to do because i only

live once

although some interpret it in a bad way

i would like to

redefine what it is and should be

accepted for many people use the yolo

mentality

as an excuse to slack off live

irresponsibly and recklessly

but i don’t see this as a yolo mentality

i think yolo mentality means

living your life to the fullest and

truly making each day count

not wasting your life caring about your

life

your mind and your heart because in the

end

you’re the only one you’ll have think

about it

you’re the only one who will stick by

your side forever so you have to treat

yourself

in the best way you can and

be the best person you can be it’s about

not caring about what others thinks

because who cares also people are so

caught up in their own lives

too worried about other concerns to give

a crap about something

you might be completely caught up in

that’s what yolo mentality means to me

in the end it’s just a short and casual

way of summarizing everything i just

said so i hope you

take my definition of yola mentality and

try incorporating it into your daily

life

even in the smallest ways whether this

means through that performance you’re

very nervous about

or even getting up in the morning for

that run you’re dreading

this yola mentality will help you in

many aspects of your life

and finally trust me it’s something that

i’m still struggling with

today i’m up here talking about the yolo

mentality but i’m fully aware

that i have not mastered it some days i

feel transported back to my elementary

school mentality

and even before today i self-doubt

myself multiple times

thinking maybe i should just back out of

this but this is also one step towards

my goal

i encourage you to find yourselves the

activity that pushes you to your fullest

potential

like what public speaking did for me

this mentality has taken me so far

and i think i’ve come a long way from

those painful experiences

in elementary school and those awkward

encounters in

middle school and so not to be cliche

but live your life to the fullest and

become the main character to your own

story

so now i will end my ted talk with one

question

how could you be the main character to

your own story with the yolo mentality

thank you for listening to my tech talk

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