Recently, one of my favorite YouTubers, Ingrid Nilson, did a video on ‘FOMO.’ FOMO stands for The Fear Of Missing Out. I can definitely relate to the fear of missing out, especially because I have a hard time saying ‘no’ sometimes, and when it comes to doing things or going places my friends or family are doing, I’m always worried that I’m going to regret not doing something.
That feeling like I’m going to be left out or miss out on something really fun is the worst. I think that there are two different kinds of different FOMO’s that I’ve experienced, but I’m sure I could think of other situations.
The first kind of FOMO is the kind that comes with jealousy. If my friends or family gets to go somewhere, like an amusement park, for example, and I don’t get to go for whatever reason, and I’m jealous because I didn’t get to go that one time. Then I feel like the next time I do anything fun, I have to make a big deal out of it (or at least a bigger deal than it is), to my friends/family, so they know I didn’t feel left out or miss out on what they did, even when they weren’t trying to make me feel left out. I feel horrible and grouchy and mean when this happens. I feel grouchy and mean with anything “type” of FOMO, but especially this one.
The second is when I have the choice of whether to do something or not, and I don’t want to, but do because I have the fear of missing out. My cousins and I are really close (in relationship and age), and I’ve felt like I’m going to miss out dozens of times, when my sister decides to sleepover with them. I’m normally always invited along with my little sister, but sometimes I really don’t want to go. I just know that my cousins and sister are going to have a lot of fun, and I don’t want to be left out. I have to decide if I want to push through it, or not go and be okay with it. That’s a really tough decision, but in the end, in this situation, I know I am going to miss out and I should push through.
The dread that I feel when I feel like I’m missing out is just awful. But I have to realize that I’m going to do really fun, awesome things in the future, and I have in the past. And my friends and/or family are going to fun things, and sometimes we’ll do them together and sometimes seperate. But that doesn’t mean either one of us is left out or missing out.
Do any of you have FOMO? Are there any other types of situations you’ve been in with it?
Hmmmm, I can’t think of anything right away when it comes to FOMO but when I think about it I can think of a couple times when I’ve felt left out, mostly during the summer time of last year, I was at home with my sister and our huge swimming pool that we bought (and I mean huge!) but it was just my sister and me. So swhen I tried to invite one of the girls my age on the street, they came and we had fun but she never invited me to do anything else with her, and I could always here her and another girl that lives on my block playing with water balloon’s or something. It hurt that they never invited me. One of the girls has a little sister my sister’s age, so when that little girl invited my sister, I would go to. And when I Went the girls kept dropping hints that they soooo wish someone had a pool they can go into. I just stood quiet because they knew I had one but I didn’t invite them over.
I haven’t seen those girls since last summer, and I doubt I’ll be seeing them again.
That’s the only experince of FOMO I’ve ever had though.
OMG, Daisy that makes me so mad for you. Ugh, I hate those kind of girls. 🙁
Ya, I don’t like those types of girls either, but to bad for them, I was already planning on what trips to take them on. (that was before I saw what they were really like!)
Sometimes I get FOMO. I can’t think of any actually experiences right now but I know I have it. I know what you mean. I get really upset and moody when I feel jealous and I know what you mean on the other one too. I’ve had experiences in both. Usually if I don’t want to do something and everyone else is going but I really don’t want to I just stay home and have a me day. Watch a bunch of netflix, read a bunch, ect. Usually the day goes past quickly.
I bought four books on sale today. A tangle of knots, shadow scale, inkdeath, and savvy( I’ve read the last two but I wanted to own them). Is counting by sevens good? What’s it about? I can’t remeber if you said it was good or not. I got a tangle of knots because you said it was good.
Did you talk to your mother? I haven’t talked to mine yet.
Ooohh, four books! I got a lot of books the other day, too. You’re going to love A Tangle of Knots if you liked Savvy. I read it in the third or fourth grade, but I don’t really remember it, just that I liked it. 🙂
I said something to her the other day. I think she would *probably* maybe let me, if it’s okay with your mom, or if they need to email each other or anything.
Oh, and Counting by 7’s is good. It’s about this girl who is a genius and she loses her parents in a car accident. You would probably like it. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but I still liked it enough I might read it again someday. I’ll be posting the review Monday or Wednesday. I think I gave it four stars. 😉
I understand your FOMO problems, Emily. I really do. The worst part is that I have a really tough time making decisions-even small decisions-and that just makes FOMO even worse. I think it’s one of those things that is responsible for me having such a tough time making decisions. Ugh.
Yes, me too! I have to weigh out the pros and cons of everything. I absolutely hate that feeling!