Ever since I was young, I always had this feeling like I’d never have enough time. This feeling was literally applied to everything, but as I got older, it became less like a feeling, and more like a mindset. It applied to bike riding with my friends, making funny home videos after school with friends, leaving those so called friends behind traveling to college, and even now while I sit in a cabin with my husband and dogs far from home, work, and other responsibilities. If you have FOMO (fear of missing out), or any sort of decision fatigue over how you’re going to spend your next 19 hours and 42 minutes, trust me, you’re not alone.
Fear of Missing Out Examples in My Life
For so long, this was how my thought process worked. Clearly, today it still happens, although I’m actively teaching myself to unlearn this annoying habit. It drives me crazy each time I catch myself falling into its trap again, but luckily I’m able to recognize it more often these days. Yesterday, when we were to leave early in the morning for our weekend getaway, I got huffy with the hubs because he had to work a little extra in the morning. EVEN THOUGH this allowed me much needed time to do some catching up on work myself, (and set up the house for an easy return), I was rather bothered that we would be missing half of the day outside of the home to enjoy each others company. Kind of petty, don’t ya think? Petty, selfish, we all have those moments, because that’s just how we humans can be at times. The good part is that we can keep working on becoming better partners, and better individuals to be around. We can improve our attitude toward adventures and still allot enough mental space to have a nice time. Today, I had another one of those moments…didn’t take very long to creep back in. Rude! I was standing outside letting my dogs find their perfect spot, thinking about how checkout is at 11am tomorrow. “Crap! I thought, only 22 more hours in this beautiful place…wait, no! 21 hours! Ughh!!” Talk about annoying voices in your head. *eye roll* Related: How Self Reflection Helps You Grow as a Person
Tips for Helping FOMO
I’ve been working on leaving a plethora of old habits behind in the last several years, some of which you’ve probably already read about, and some of which may come about in the future. This overthinking, annoying fear of missing out thought process is most certainly one of them. The angst and the overwhelm about what I need to fit into these small chunks of time that I somehow managed to carve out of my hella busy schedule just want to take over sometimes and I’ve been working on ways to not let that happen so easily. Some of these tips may sound repetitive, but I promise you, that’s for a solid reason. They’re working for me, and if they can work on this ridiculous mind that runs a hundred miles a minute, I promise they are most likely going to work for you, too. Here’s my faves: (I’ve even implemented some of them this weekend so far)- The 4:7:8 breath work technique. It truly is a winner. Check out a video if you’re not sure what it is, (I’ve linked one in the text on the home page for you!)
- Replace those racing and negative thoughts with better ones. Clear your mind and reset. Try visualizing exactly what you want to look like or where you want to be in 3 months, 6 months, or a year from now. Like really see it in your mind.
- Look inward. Someone recently was sharing a tattoo, in which we both agreed the inner work was the hardest part. This goes the same for your inner work on yourself. Spend some time working on being more mindful or trying to recognize when you’re getting stressed. You could even go as far as writing those moments down to reflect on them on a future date.
- Sit down or go for a walk (if you’re like me, when you’re thinking you cannot walk at the same time), don’t feel weird, just know it’s not just you! Try not letting any thoughts flood in during this time. Just focus on being present, and make sure you’re in nature, not a closed gym.
- Touch some trees. Or hug them, yes really. I recently traveled to my dads with my husband where we cut down a tree that’s been there my entire life. When I hugged the empty stump at the end, my husband laughed. But seriously, it was my way of feeling the goodbye entirely. I felt more whole doing so, and I’ve let go of feelings of guilt, shame, or people thinking I’m weird for doing things, because you know what, weird is just what I am, and I’m finally okay with that.
Leaving Behind a Bad Habit
Another habit I’m leaving behind this month is alcohol. I’m seeing where things take me, but as a self-proclaimed health nut, it’s just no longer for me. I’m looking toward a healthier and happier future where alcohol doesn’t consume my free time over reading, writing, being present with myself and loved ones, the list goes on. The more I do this thing called reading, the more I am educated about the cons widely outweighing the pros. And as a person (or woman, rather), in her 30s, it’s high time to make better decisions about what I’m ingesting. (This goes for nutrition as well! Which I promised in a past post that we will continue to touch on, so stay with me folks!) I’m hopeful that during this part of my journey with leaving old habits behind, you’ll be willing to follow along and do the same. Whether that looks like overthinking, drinking, or eating things that don’t serve you well, I hope that we can find some sort of balance in the future for ourselves as busy, overworked and anxious individuals. As long as you have me here, I promise I’ll be rooting you on as I do the same for myself. Whatever it is that you’re fighting for or against, you’ve got this.
