YOLO. It’s the Millennials and Generation Y’s most pathetic, and overused, excuse. You only live once? How inspirationally boring and bland can we get?

The phrases we are allowing to penetrate our minds do nothing other than quickly transform our intellect into a big ball of mush. We sit around binge watching Netflix and complain about anything and everything, but when it comes to actually standing up and doing something worthwhile we balk. We whine about nothing ever changing and being stuck in the same time warp of traditions as the previous generation, but we never try to make a difference.By doing nothing, we simultaneously agree to the cards we’ve been dealt instead of attempting to swap out and draw again.

As young adults, we have the chance to risk with little to lose. However, our generation uses this chance on alcohol, sex, drugs and social media. Maybe that stereotype is a tad harsh, but all stereotypes initiate from some version of the truth. The point is, we waste our youth on things that have little value, and we will end up looking back regretting not venturing to do more.

WAKE UP MILLENNIALS. We have an opportunity to do something remarkable and memorable with your teenage years. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to prove the critics and the stereotypes wrong.

It’s 2015, and we have the world at our feet. We are one pass code and a Google search away from starting something big. Take a moment to think about what makes you tick; discover what you are passionate about. What are your hobbies? What makes you happier than anything else? Then rack your brain and find what makes you outrageously angry. How do you feel about racism? Poverty? What about human trafficking? Do you like oxygen and trees? What would you do to help the environment? It only takes a little bit of effort to find something that changes lives.

It’s not impossible to make a difference. There are many people we study every day who made a difference, and they were once teenagers like us. With a few weeks of brainstorming, you could start a campaign or a fundraiser to bring awareness to a problem that is consuming our world.

Ignore the critics because they are part of the problem. So we are teenagers, not incapable, helpless beings. “Youth” and “lazy” are not synonyms. We can do anything we set our minds to. It’s the most truthful cliché out there. Put down the remote, stop texting, and walk outside. What is left of the beauty surrounding you is yours to preserve and/or improve. After all, you only live once.