Not so long ago, I was a sufferer of FOMO (which for the non-digitally savvy is ‘Fear of Missing Out’).
‘Fear of missing out’ is a phenomenon brought about, or at least intensified, by the rise of social media. We are constantly watching other people’s lives unfold online and then comparing them to our own. It means that if you can’t make it to a certain event, you also can’t ignore the fact is is taking place or pretend it was not any good without you. The fun you weren’t a part of is all there in glorious high definition computer screen colour.
When I was younger mother, I had an extreme case of FOMO.
I’d get up on a Sunday morning after being woken by my 5-year-old son who had just alerted me to the the fact that the cat had shat on his bed again and meanwhile, my Facebook friend was posting pictures of her entire family just having finished a 10km marathon and sipping a champagne breakfast overlooking the harbour.
I’d be cursing the sky, asking why catshit was my reality, yet Dom Perignon was theirs. My problem of course was not only was I comparing my life with someone else’s, I was also comparing it with a contrived reality that only exists on the internet.
FOMO is a deeply debilitating condition that can only be cured by ageing.... and realising that missing out can actually be excellent.
Enter: JOMO, which stands for the 'Joy of Missing Out', which is basically the opposite. It's the special kind of happiness or contentment that comes from doing the opposite of what it supposed to be fun. Avoiding the boozy night out on the town with your girlfriends by pretending to be sick and instead sitting on the couch in a state of undress, eating Cheetos and watching Netflix.
Since I've matured (okay, since I've gotten older) I've realised that things that once made me jealous, things I once yearned for, places and events I had a serious case of FOMO about - I simply no longer care for. In fact, not only do I not care, it gives me great joy to no longer be involved in such things. JOMO, my friends, is real and quite liberating.
Here are 18 experiences that are supposed to be fun but that I now take great joy in missing out on.
What do you now have JOMO about it that one had you paralysed by FOMO?
