Sometimes we have those “add to cart” kind of days.

By this I mean, we know what we want to do, but we don’t have time to do it right away. So, we add it to our cart and hope that at some point throughout our day, we will buy some time to get it done. But unfortunately, we’re all always in a rush. We’re in a rush to do as much as we can as quickly as we can before time runs out. We constantly are looking for the next opportunity, option, event, and activity. We crave free time, but oddly enough once we have it, we are not satisfied.

I would categorize FOMO as a type of anxiety. It’s something that we stress over and worry about. Maybe we don’t all have a severe case of FOMO but we definitely all have some form of it because truthfully, no one likes to be absent from the moment that everyone is enjoying. There are those who could care less about whether or not they do or don’t experience the fun and then there are those with FOMO who care a lot and hate the thought that someone might be having a rewarding experience without them.

The “fear of missing out” keeps us from doing the things that we want to do and instead of doing the things that everyone else is doing. It lures our intelligence and self-will into a cycle of activities so that we never have to hear about the fun that we didn’t have. We abandon our past and our boundaries and all the amazing adventures that hold meaning for us, just so that we don’t ever have to say that we missed out. However, every time we say "YES" to something just because we’re afraid of missing out, we’re saying NO to something else. We need the photo to prove it, or the memory to hold on to, because if we have to listen to other people talk about the fun that we didn’t get to experience, we’ll always regret it.

These are just a couple ways you can help get rid of your FOMO."

Find a barrier to place between you and your social media.

Social media is a dominating platform that Generation Y uses to share details and memories from their lives with their friends, family, and even strangers. When our friends or family members share something from their lives with us it is very easy to feel jealous if we aren’t experiencing that moment with them. So, turn off your push notifications, move your social media apps farthest away from your home screen and make it a point for yourself to detox from the virtual world of social media.

Do your own exciting stuff.

Who says you can’t form your own FOMO-worthy things? You don’t always have to be around other people to be having a great time. Plan activities that make you happy and work around your schedule so that you’re in control of the memory. Life happens sometimes. We’re not always going to be able to make every party and every event so why not plan our own that we know for sure we can be at?

Don’t care so much... let go of your FOMO and do what makes you happy. Every life is worth living but it’s up to you to make it worth your while.