You’re at home on a Friday night, kicking back while watching your favorite series, when suddenly you decide to go through your Instagram and you see a picture of your group of friends just having the time of their lives, taking a dip in what seems to be the clearest blue ocean water that you’ve ever laid your eyes on. The worst part is: you weren’t even excluded from the trip in the first place; you just declined to go earlier. Now you’re regretting your decision, wishing you were there instead of being at home missing it out. Which brings us to this do we have FOMO?
If you’re not acquainted with this acronym, FOMO or fear of missing out is a 21st century slang that was created to define the fear of missing out on an event which may subsequently lead to missing out on something great that had happened during that said event.
They say that the first step to recovery is admitting your problem, so I’m going to be up front and say that yes, I have FOMO, or the fear of missing out.
Remember those days when you can’t make it for something, you can just go about with your day without feeling bad because there is no live-stream of whatever is happening at the event you couldn’t make for? Now it’s become the total opposite as everything that you find yourself not being able to attend to is being broadcasted for all to see, and naturally you develop a sense of longing and a tinge of regret questioning as to why you did not go in the first place.
The thing with FOMO is that it usually starts with relatively small things like seeing a photo of your friends at a hip restaurant or on a vacation, where you’ll find yourself sneaking in a thought wishing you were there. Going through that is only natural right? What we don’t know is that thought will gradually change to a want, and the next thing you know, you find yourself wanting to change every aspect of your life just because someone else is doing it while making it look like it’s fun at the same time.
The reality is that sometimes the things that you find yourself wanting aren’t the things that you need in life. Speaking from experience, I found myself countless of times being broke by the end of the month just because I did not want to miss out on those great outings with that group of friends who always seemed to make their late-night shenanigans worth while. Truthfully, almost half of them were major let downs where only the good parts were captured on film and shared on everyone else’s newsfeeds to fool those who were not there otherwise.
With all that being said, I would like to officially make my clean break from FOMO by changing up a few habits. One of them is to disconnect and unplug from the digital world, and reconnect with the actual one I’m in by paying attention to the people who are actually in front of me. I found that my FOMO stemmed from looking at whatever other people were doing which led me to wishing that I was there with them. The matter of the fact is that you can’t be everywhere at the same time because eventually you’ll end up nowhere. So find peace wherever you may be.
Next thing on my list is to be present wherever I may be. Not just present physically, but mentally and emotionally. Even if its just grabbing a quick bite with mom, or talking to your friend about your day, because being there in the moment actually makes a difference. Like that famous lyric which goes like, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”, and that’s what I’ll do. I’m going to appreciate whatever is around me before it’s too late.
That’s all for now.
Till then,
