College gives me such FOMO.
FOMO stands for fear of missing out, and i feel it like crazy. College is cool, but when you aren't totally in love with your school, it gets a lot easier to feel like you're missing out. For me, I feel it a lot with my friends who are at home still hanging out and making plans. I feel it with my family having family dinners and me not being there.
I feel it with my cousin graduating from marine boot camp and not being able to go because I have classes until late and I have to get my degree. But on the other hand, I feel it in people around me having the time of their lives and I have to work hard and study to keep myself on track, so I mostly miss out on going out and experiencing what it's like to be a college student. I'm in a weird limbo that is really hard to explain, but it just doesn't sit right with me.
I want to be having the time of my life, and making the best out of every opportunity that is presented to me, but I also want to enjoy things I'm used to being a part of too. I want to get involved in new things, and get the full college experience, but I also get sad when I see my friends at home hanging out or doing things we would do together. I want to go out and be a real college student and get the going out experience, but I also have to work and make money and stay on top of my school work.
On top of the constant battle of missing out on things at home or at school, I'm also suffering from FOMO with my future decisions as well. I'm scared that I wont get a job that pays well, or a job that I'm super happy to do. I’m also worried that things may not always work out like I want them to. Other people who chose different paths than I did are already becoming more successful, and I'm worried I'm going to suffer FOMO from not getting the best opportunities I possibly can for myself.
Even though I have this FOMO on a bunch of things in my life, I do still have a good life. I'm not writing this simply to complain that maybe I'm not making the right choices. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and the choices I make are going to lead me in the right direction. And the difficult thing to learn about life and growing up is that we’re all going to have to make difficult decisions as time goes on. We’re going to have choose productivity over fun, or passion over money, or school over family from time to time. We’re going to have to make sacrifices along the way, and we’re going to have to learn that we simply can’t be in 2 places at once, so you naturally can’t have everything you may ever want.
FOMO isn’t all bad. For me, it encourages me to make pros and cons lists of my choices, and find the things that are truly the most meaningful, or feasible options for my current decision pattern. It is going to mean that you’re going to have to miss out on things from time to time, whether you miss out on the coolest party in the town to study, or you miss family dinner because you have to work, or you miss going out with your friends because you have school instead. Let the choices settle in, and make them count. You are still living a great life, and the choices you make are most likely going to make a difference in your life, whether or not you can understand it now or not. You will still have time to see the people you love, if it means you have to give up some time to see them to finish your assignments, they will understand. You will find a job and a future path that makes you happy to be a part of it, even if you had to give up some cool opportunities along the way. In my opinion the ends justify the means, and your FOMO will propel you toward things you really want or need to do, and you won’t really be missing out after all.
