Welcome to Food For Thought! This is a new segment where I share my opinion and I want you to tell me yours down below. I think that it is great to get into conversation and really understand ongoing events or things that are causing a lot of people to side with one another. I am sharing my opinion so that you can see my view and, hopefully, I can better understand other views too. Open minds everyone!

Now, for today’s topic, this is the definition that I found by just typing in “FOMO”: anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website.

It is really hard not to be entranced by social media and projecting the best parts of you on it. For me, Instagram is where I can share my creativity or love of something. There is something about seeing people I know or work with having the time of their lives while I am sitting at home and watching television. I have learned to cope with missing out on something or pushing myself to make that leap.

For example, I went to a fair and I thought that I would absolutely hate it or have an anxiety attack. I was about to until I just took a mental break for a second and told myself that there is room, yes, there are people but they are not going to hurt me. I am going to be fine. It takes a lot of talking to myself internally so that I can adjust to an environment with a lot of people. I think that FOMO (fear of missing out) has happened to everyone at one time or another.

To become better about hanging out with people and understanding my own personal boundaries, I have asked myself a couple of questions:

When is this happening? I don’t go to parties and I, generally, don’t leave the house after 6:00 PM if I don’t have to. I am just not a person who likes to party at night. I went to one party and it wasn’t something like you see in the movies but it isn’t something that I would go to again. I am just not a party person.

Will they stop asking? I think that it is good to get out once in a while but if I keep saying no to someone to hang out later, eventually they will stop. This does not mean that you should say yes to everything, but if it is something that you feel comfortable with and have time for (right now, school comes first for me). Also keep in mind that you can invite them for a quick coffee run or having lunch together, something small and simple.

Why do I feel like I did something wrong? I didn’t. If someone doesn’t invite me to something it is because they either have their reasons or they just forgot. I try not to overthink things like that anymore because it doesn’t benefit me as a person to dwell on something I can’t control.

Am I really good? Usually, the answer is “yes” because I am introverted and I can catch up on my shows or dedicate more time to you or hang out with my sister. I have the free time with no obligation to people and can enjoy doing something I want.

ALSO, if the people YOU invite out are doing something after all of them cancelled on you, together, well that brings into question if they are really your friends. Friends are supposed to support each other and keep you in their lives. Granted, I can only handle people in small doses, the smaller amount of people, the better. I would not tell someone that they couldn’t come along somewhere if they wanted to, that is not very hospitable.

So, instead of fearing to miss our on something, we should all be enjoying ourselves and the place we are at in life. I hope that this gives you a better understanding of FOMO. If you are still confused, here is a quick video from my favorite YouTuber, Ingrid Nilsen:

-Tiffany