Growing up in a small private Christian school, I was very involved in different clubs, sports teams and organizations, mainly because it was the social norm. Your friends joined Pep Club, so you obviously had to join Pep Club, too. In junior high and high school, tennis was the "cool" sport to play, so I had 25 teammates...yet only seven people are needed to have a full tennis team. All the older high school girls wore high top Converse and Michael Kors watches so, of course, you had to wear that too. Fitting in and not missing out on being "popular" or "cool" growing up was and is extremely important to most teenagers. The fear of missing out, or "FOMO," really began during the teenage years in middle school and leading up to high school. I'm sure going to a school in a class of 500+ people, it may have been different, but going to a private Christian high school in a class of 49, everyone knew who you were by name. Everyone knew your parents, what they did for a living, your siblings, and your dogs names so the pressure to fit in and be known in a positive way was always on my mind. As much as I loved my school, I could not wait to go to college and do things that I wanted to do strictly because I wanted to do them.
When I moved to Montgomery, Ala. to attend Huntingdon College, my first few months here were definitely not all I thought they would be. I can not really blame anyone else but myself for that feeling, though. I was not involved in anything but tennis and class. So, for the first two months of college, I would wake up and go to class, go to tennis practice and go back to my room. The FOMO was real. Eventually, I did find a great group of friends that I spent, and still spend, a lot of my time with, so I found my way out of being reclusive. After my freshman year, I made a list of goals that I wanted to accomplish in order for me to not have FOMO again. I told myself I would attempt to become a leader on my tennis team, I would join a sorority, and join at least two more organizations on campus. Setting these goals for myself was, honestly, the best choice I have made as a student at Huntingdon. Now, as a third year student, the fear of missing out is something that has happened to me and I do not plan on it happening again. By getting involved, staying focused on doing things for yourself, and maintaining a healthy friend group, you can diminish the miserable fear of missing out, FOMO.
