007: Richard Branson – YOLO

“My philosophy in life is that You Only Live Once. Live life to its fullest. It’s a lot more fun. Don’t say no. That’s the way I’ve always approach things. As one of my book title says, “Screw it, Let’s do it.” – Sir Richard Branson

This was drawn by Eastfist. See more of his work at his page.

“My philosophy in life is that you only live once. Live life to its fullest. Its a lot more fun. Dont say no. Thats the way Ive always approached things. As one of my book titles says, Screw It, Lets Do It.” -Richard Branson

The original quote appears here.

First of all, I would like to apologise if this comic somehow offends anyone. No, not that it has #YOLO in it (I make no apologies for that), but because it refers to space flight at the end. For the uninitiated, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo had crash-landed with one fatality. A similar spaceship is depicted in this comic.

I would like to say that this comic was planned and made before that accident, and that I did not have any satirical, sarcastic, hurtful or unkind intentions or comments while making this comic. It was purely for inspirational purposes.

However, we did make a comic as a form of commentary on the SpaceShipTwo crash. You can find it here. We uploaded it right after this one here.

Meanwhile, if you read this comic without the context of the crash, I think it looks pretty good and can stand on its own. As luck would have it, Sir Richard Branson really did say “You Only Live Once” (#YOLO). I know the phrase #YOLO has a bad reputation, but if there ever was a proper way to use the phrase #YOLO, then Branson’s got it right. #YOLO is really just a repackaged version of carpe diem, or seize the day.

To me, it’s not really meant to say you can do out there and do crazy, outrageous or life-threatening things. It’s about your living life to the fullest everyday, because you only have one life to live. Branson summarised this point so well with the quote in this comic.

Sir Richard Branson, I believe, does not need introduction. However, I can clarify whether the things you see him doing in the comic are fact of fiction. Well, he has descended from tall buildings multiple times before and will probably do it again. Most of these descents were  publicity stunts for his company launches. He actually did it by being lowered down by a cord attached to his waist, as opposed to bungee jumping in the comic. He has climbed a mountain before (more than one, if I remember correctly), but of course he did the climb with a team. As for kite surfing, lets just say he has two world records related to that sport. Need I say more?

Have you been out living your life to its fullest? Tell me what awesome #YOLO adventures you have ever had in the comments below.