We've all been struck by F.O.M.O., it is a real thing and it's almost too real sometimes. Fear of missing out, as we call it.
You've been invited to a party, or a girls night out, or some pregame, but for whatever reason you're unable to attend. It hurts you to reject the invite, but it hurts even more to wonder what mysterious things all of your friends are doing without you. You won't be able to resist the urge to constantly check Instagram, and everyone's snap story, and don't even get me started on the late night tweets that are clearly only directed to everyone that's out together. You may be stuck inside studying for your exam like the responsible adult that you are, but you'd still like to know what's going on. It's natural to want to feel connected to your friends when you're not with them. I mean, they're your people.
The thoughts will run through your mind of the limitless activities everyone could be doing without you. What if all your friends get a meaningful tattoo together? What if they hang out with that one person you can't stand? What if she becomes their new best friend?!?
In all actuality, the likelihood of some spectacular event occurring while you're not there is slim to none. However, the anxiety over this slight possibility will gnaw at you all night. You may miss out on a few new inside jokes and they may all send you snap chats of them dancing to your favorite song, but you will survive.
Your friends will always be there to hang out, your favorite song will most likely play again one night for you to dance to (or play ten times), and you can send plenty of obnoxious snap chats on the next GNO. In fact, when you look back and ace that midterm or got to work on time without suffering an excruciating hangover you'll thank yourself. So just take a few deep breaths and ignore the same candid that your friends will intermittently post throughout the night because you're probably not missing out on all that much.
