💭 Replacing FOMO with JOMO

We’ve all heard of FOMO — the Fear of Missing Out. These days, we’re all more connected than ever thanks to phones and tablets and easily-accessible Internet.

This constant connection ensures that we miss nothing. It also affects our mental health because, let’s face it, the news these days is not happy news. Yet, when we try to ignore it — news, social media, etc — we’re suddenly afraid we’re missing out on important things.

But are we really? Are we really missing out or are we just conditioned by that constant connection to, well, everything?

Here’s an idea…

Let’s replace the FOMO in our lives with JOMO — the Joy of Missing Out.

We don’t need a 24/7 connection to the world’s news. We don’t need to doomscroll endlessly because of a fear that we might miss something. Nine times out of ten, those things we think we’re missing are things that don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

What would happen if we missed out on hearing about the day’s five mass shootings that occurred? What if we missed out on what some self-centered celebrity did or didn’t do? What would happen if we, just for a day or two, didn’t pay constant attention to what’s going on in other countries?

The answer is nothing. Nothing would happen. Nothing negative, anyway.

The things that might happen? We’ll feel less overwhelmed and less anxious. We’ll have the chance to do things that make us happy, whatever that may be.

Take care of yourself. Take care of your mental health. We’ve only got one chance at this life. Do whatever it takes to make it a positive one — even if that means ignoring the things that others think you should always being paying attention to.