What Is FOMO and How It Affects My Life

This post might make me seem like the most boring person ever, or just completely weird, and I respect that tbh. It is what it is. But I wanted to make a post about it because there is always so much stuff going on during summer that I see on social media and I feel… I don’t think bad is the right word but like I feel uncomfy and as though I missed out on something by not being there and I think it’s important to address it for your own sake I guess.

What Is FOMO?

Fear Of Missing Out

I’m sure a majority of you knew this, but in case you didn’t, FOMO just stands for “fear of missing out”. Actually the first time I heard it was in a vine and it really confused me because I had never heard it and didn’t realise it was just short for something else so I literally was so confused. I tried to find the video for you but literally couldn’t find it and I wasn’t about to start looking through all the vine compilations, but if that is something you are wanting to do, the vine person was called TooTurntTina. It also is not necessary for this post whatsoever so do with that information what you will.

Basically, it is feeling as though you are going to/have missed out on something. For me, I just feel left out and even if I were to miss a day of school or have to go in late, I would be kinda worried that I was going to miss something and then in the end I would have no friends.

And that’s quite the big jump you know, but that’s just how my brain works lol

How Has It Affected Me?

That heading makes it sound like I have some sort of condition but literally, it isn’t that deep. It is pretty annoying though, I’ll tell you that because I could really not be arsed to do something, but then all of a sudden I think that something completely ground-breaking will happen, so if I don’t go I’m gonna miss it.

As I said before, I feel as though missing something will result in me just having no friends. But I’m guessing a lot of you will be like “this girl has got to chill the fuck out” and you are right. I 100% agree, but you know me, I love to challenge myself. Never let them know your next thought. Missing a day of school? Seems like eternal loneliness to me!

So, apart from keeping me on my toes, what does this quirky way of thinking do to my everyday life? First off, it’s useful to establish what type of person I am. I’m not gonna lie, I’m generally an anxious person. I love a little spontaneity, but I love sticking to a schedule and planning in advance. I like to be at home and comfy by myself, but if I’m not around people for more than half a day, we’ll just say it gets a bit dark up in the ol’ noggin.

Now we have that established, it’s easy to understand that it can get a little confusing, or stressful when I am put in the situation of choosing between whether to do something or not. There are a lot of things that I have to think about within a short space of time before making a decision. You may say I’m indecisive but the fact is I know what I want to do. More likely than not I want to just stay at home or just not do what they are suggesting but then I also gotta think of what I could be missing out on. They could start forming a closer bond and I would end up just being an accessory to the group or maybe they could end up meeting someone famous. Honestly, though it doesn’t make sense because who the fuck are you gonna meet in a Mcdonald’s in Northern Ireland? Fucking Ronald McDonald?

A lot of people just have the attitude of just saying yes to everything because you won’t regret going, you’ll only regret not going. And usually, that is the way it ends up, especially as my twin always goes to everything and obviously if she goes then I can’t make up an excuse to not go, so I usually don’t have much of an option, but a lot of the time it is just draining and in reality, I just want to be in my fucking bed.

The weirdest part about it is when I’m scared of missing school. Who the fuck doesn’t want to miss a day of school? I used to like it in primary school because the only thing you would miss is what the fox said but you can catch up on that later. But with high school, if you miss a day or a period, the next time you come in either the whole building will be in ashes or you’ll have finished a whole topic which just happens to be the longest and most complicated of the entire year and now you’ve got a pile of homework and you need to teach yourself the whole subject for the next lesson.

I could be seeing the light but I’ll be thinking about how much I am going to miss in school. Honestly, I don’t know if that says more about me or the schooling system but something ain’t right. I feel so ashamed or I feel like a fraud. Unless I have literally broken all my bones I can just tell the teachers are looking at me like “that he just wanted to miss maths” or “that dumb bitch doesn’t even know how to find the area of an oval” as if I even do maths/need it for my future.

It is crazy how much you can miss in one day and sometimes that fear can help you to do some amazing things like maybe skydiving, trying new foods or literally just having some special bonding time with your friends, but at some point, it becomes more of a burden. It feels as if you are forced to be there which just makes everything worse I don’t really know how to stop that yet and it may take some time but I hope that sometime in the future I can be as secure with myself and my friendships as to not feel terrified by the thought of missing out. It just spoils so much and in reality, I should just focus on myself.

I mean, so what if I don’t get invited to every single party or go out every single night with a bunch of different people. That isn’t me and if I went out and did that I would most likely be miserable. It gives me the energy to do the things that I want to do and just because I am not that social of a person, doesn’t make me any less interesting or worthy. It doesn’t make me weird, it just makes me happier.

And not everybody is out every day and night doing everything imaginable. You only think that way because only people like that post their entire life. There are probably a handful of people who actually live like that because who the fuck is gonna post a photo of themselves having some quiet time or just hanging out by themselves? There are probably so many other people who feel the same as you do but they just don’t post about it so therefore you only see those that have done so much. In all honestly, they have probably just posted photos from a while ago or they literally took a photo of them having a great time when in reality it was a shit show.

I guess what I want you to take away from this post is that you shouldn’t worry about missing out and you should take life less seriously. Who gives a fuck if you miss out on a teacher having a mental breakdown? You can talk about it later if you want but in the end, it will hardly go down in history. And if you don’t end up hanging out with your friends on the weekend, that’s fine. If they are any type of good person they will understand and not judge you.

Most likely the things that feel so big and important now you won’t even remember in the future. It’s about doing things when you want to so you can get the full experience and joy of doing it. So I hope you have a great day, stay safe and stay yourself PERIODT.

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