FOMO....

FOMO.

I hadn't heard of this abbreviation until a few weeks ago, when instead of studying for finals (as I should have been doing) I was cruising the Internet, hopping from one web-article to another, in the hopes of finding something that would spark my interest more than developmental biology had thus far. Surprisingly, it wasn't been that difficult to find something less soul crushing, which is how I landed on an article about FOMO.

Fear
Of
Missing
Out

Fear is a large part of my life. I get vaccinated because I'm afraid of contracting a deadly (preventable) disease. I wear my seat belt, because I'm afraid of being terribly injured in a car accident. I study, partially, because I am afraid of failure. I was afraid to change which career to pursue because I worried about what family would think, or whether my first degree would be a waste. While I'm convinced that I'm in many ways somewhat of an oddity, I have to wonder how many people experience the same fear-driven desires.

This distracting article was titled "7 Reasons to Say 'no' to FOMO" so I clicked on it, to learn more... and to procrastinate studying. It said that "FOMO is the leading contributor to leading an inauthentic life."

Let that sink in... "an inauthentic life." I let the article stay open on my computer for a couple of weeks while I pondered it.

And, because I'm still thinking about what it means to me personally about my life being authentic, I'm going to share the seven reasons:
1) FOMO promotes inauthenticity
2) FOMO makes you prioritize activities over people
3) FOMO is expensive
4) FOMO makes us feel not good enough
5) FOMO promotes self-destructive behavior (impulsive actions)
6) FOMO fuels Social-Media Addiction
7) FOMO is exhausting

And I'll add this eight reason:
8) FOMO promotes "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence syndrome"

Something I'm coming to realize (late, I know) is that lives are like snowflakes: no two are identical. It's ridiculous for me to look at another person and think that his or her life is somehow better than mine. As my good (but scarce) pal, Ben Franklin said, "The only things that are sure in life are death and taxes." So, if that is the case, why have we envisioned certain benchmarks that somehow make for a happy life? (Think huge wedding, marriage, babies, college, career, travel etc.) While these benchmarks are common, they are by no means unique to a happy life (I think). So instead of being worried about missing out, we should be worried about living authentically.

We should be worried about creating and sustaining meaningful relationships, improving ourselves in whichever ways we see fit, growing into more moral and kind people, and investing in a divine relationship with God. So, instead of doing something because you're afraid of missing out, or you're jealous that another person had that experience, say no to FOMO, and do something that makes you better, do something that makes you holy, do something to show other human beings that they are loved and that they are greater than FOMO.



Read the article here.