Why Not? You Only Live Once!
March 30, 2026
Writer: Auburn Marriott
Editor: Talia Kohn
“I love you!” Three simple words, yet sometimes the hardest to say. Still, this is what I say when I hang up the phone with my friends and family. When I am talking to someone, whether that be my best friends from back home or my family across the country, I make it a point to end the call by saying I love them. It may seem unconventional to some, but over the past couple of months, I’ve learned that holding back what you truly feel and think is far more difficult than finding the courage to say it. Every time a difficult conversation has presented itself to me, I have learned lessons that encourage me to say what I am truly thinking, because life is too short to be silent.
I was always the child in school who would get in trouble for talking too much, and this trait has carried into my adulthood. Throughout my entire life, I have, without fail, been a social person who loves and knows how to keep a conversation going. Although, like anyone, difficult conversations always seemed to cause me to be at a loss for words. The first difficult conversation I can recall was when my parents told me they were getting a divorce, and I sat there staring at the wall in complete silence. The anger, fear, sadness, and grief were all emotions that became bottled up tightly inside of me, but I held the thoughts in for years. Without voicing my truth, emotion built up more and more, but I had acted as if everything was “ok” for years. It was not until I was eighteen that I told them both my real thoughts on the divorce, and I reflect now on the conversations because while they were hard, the thirty-minute conversations were easier than years of silence. I think back to thirteen-year-old Auburn, who stayed so silent, and to that eggshell-colored painted wall, and while I wish I had spoken my mind, I learned the substantial lesson of being unapologetically, authentically myself, even if it took years to learn.
I apply the grief I felt in silence, and apply it to my everyday life by expressing exactly what I think and feel without any fear of what others may think. Voicing exactly how I feel can still be a terrifying act, but I would rather look back and say I tried than regret never being who I am and want to be, a person who is never fearful to speak their truth.
I approach every new day with this adopted mindset because sometimes the hardest conversations can have the best results. Telling that person you miss them, telling a friend you’re upset, asking for help, breaking up with someone, saying “I love you” for the first time, and admitting to guilt are all examples of some of the hardest conversations one might have. This said, the best yet scariest part about anxiety- inducing conversations is that you truly will never know what the result will be. You may think you can predict the outcome, but you cannot know for certain unless you take the chance and give something your full effort, which will always be more fulfilling than living with regret.
I will continue to say “I love you” to my friends as I hang up the phone because life is too short for me not to tell the people I love that I love them. Putting your thoughts into words, owning your authenticity, and confronting the toughest discussions will all lead to the best results. Everyone feels the sting of possible rejection, guilt, or embarrassment, and that fear never fully disappears, but regret will always last longer than fear. It is more powerful to look back and say you were brave enough to face the anxiety-inducing conversation and take the risk than to wonder forever what might have happened, so go tell them what you are thinking. Life is too short.
