This, as we have seen, leads to all sorts of bad habits such as drug abuse, binge drinking, compulsive sex, etc. But on what grounds do I call those "bad habits"? "What's so wrong with using drugs, alcohol, and sex for a little bit of fun?" you may ask. My argument is that "drugs, alcohol, and sex ruin your body". At this time you, probably thinking yourself quite clever, respond by saying, "What does it matter? It's my body, it's my life, and I'll do what I want with it!" Now you see, this is where the foolishness comes in. Try as you may to convince yourself, no amount of logic can actually bring you to the conclusion that your body and your life truly belong to you.
Allow me to explain. You may believe God created you (as I do), or nature created you, or fate created you, or just an egg and sperm created you. What you believe is irrelevant. Whatever way you slice it, you did not create yourself. No amount of logic can disprove, or even argue that. You did not exist prior to your existence. Something else had to have created you; regardless of what you believe that is. Puts you in a rather different position than you were in when you first started reading this, doesn't it? Instead of possessing executive ownership of your life, you now have a life that is a precious gift. And who, of all people, ruins a gift from a friend for their own enjoyment? Rather disrespectful, don't you think?
...Still not convinced? If not, you're about to be. There is one last thing to consider. Your life is not a gift you get to keep forever. Someday you will have to give it back to God, or nature, or fate, or whatever. You don't want to return damaged property to your Creator, do you? That's like borrowing a book from a friend and returning it irreparably damaged by coffee stains, missing pages, etc. And that, my friends, is a good deal more disrespectful than breaking a gift meant to be yours forever. In fact, why not even consider making a few improvements on the wonderful thing you have borrowed?
There is another specific, unhealthy mindset in connection to ideals in our modern age. Many people do things on account of, "I don't want to die tomorrow knowing I could have done such-and-such today." This is unhealthy for two reasons.
The first reason is that this mindset will never be fulfilled. If you did find yourself on your deathbed tomorrow, I guarantee that there is something you could think of that you didn't do that you wanted to. "Sure I went skydiving and did drugs and had awesome sex, but I never went skinny dipping or bought my own boat and went sailing on it." Or, perhaps an even worse scenario is this, "I got drunk as often as I wanted but I never made amends with my family." If you so heavily concern yourself with experiencing all life has to offer, you will die in disappointment. It would be much healthier to seek the best in life versus seeking everything in life.
The second reason I have is that this mindset makes you subservient to death itself. Everything you do is according to the possibility of dying tomorrow. I ask you, why serve death? What will he do for you? Literally, he will kill you. Death is your murderer.
Allow me to explain the aforementioned concept with a scenario. Imagine that someone has discovered the exact date upon which the world is going to end. You know that you are going to die, so you have some fun. Actually, you have a lot of fun including but certainly not limited to drugs, sex, and alcohol. The date of the apocalypse arrives and, though waist deep in stress, you feel you have experienced what you can (best case scenario). The date passes and nothing happens. The scientist everyone listened too is proven to be a fraud. The dust clears and you have a pregnant girlfriend, alcohol poisoning, AIDS, the whole nine yards. Put yourself in that scenario, having all of those new troubles and responsibilities. I'm willing to bet that, disillusioned as you are, you would on many occasions wish that the apocalypse really had happened. I know that's how I would feel.
You see how this is unhealthy? Why do anything that may ever make you wish you were dead? Enough, I say. Do not live in service to death. Instead, I recommend that we life in service to life. Rather than asking the question "what if I die tomorrow" before doing something, ask yourself this, "What can I do today that will make my life tomorrow better?" In this mindset, there is no need to be bitter when you die. You sought not everything in life but the best in life, and if you did your best to get that then you and death can meet respectfully.
Near the beginning of this post, you may have noticed my comment, "I myself live by the phrase (YOLO) in a different, less modern way." Be it noted that my version also has an understood phrase on the end...
"You only live once... DON'T MESS IT UP!" -Codey B. Huntting
