I’ve been an out-of-state student for the entirety of my four years of my undergraduate studies, so I am well-acquainted with the fear of missing out (FOMO). To top it off, all of my friends live here in Florida, which means they still get to hang out even when the semester ends.
At first, I didn’t have too much FOMO, mostly because the pandemic was still very much alive, so I knew that nobody was going to be hanging out all the time. During my junior year though, when the pandemic started to die down, I started realizing how afraid I was to miss out on all the hangouts.
I was afraid that my friends would have so much fun without me to the point where they would forget about me. What if they realize that I’m actually not that fun? What if they start leaving me out when I come back for the fall semester?
After coming back each fall though, the truth was, my fears never came to fruition, and I was never forgotten nor left out. It wasn’t until recently that I finally came to terms with the fact that I will be going home for another summer and that it’s totally okay that I will be missing out on time with my friends.
I spent so many summers and even winter breaks villainizing the act of me going home because I was so scared to miss out on having fun with my friends. The issue with thinking like this is that going home is not a bad thing at all. As a matter of fact, I genuinely love going home for so many reasons: I get to see my family, have so much fun with my sisters, go to all my favorite food spots, and live in my childhood room again.
The most important thing that I realized is that, even though I might be missing out on fun hangouts, that doesn’t mean I’m not having fun too while I’m home. I try to recognize the fact that every time that I am home for summer or winter break, I have such a great time.
Whenever I’m feeling worried about missing out, I remind myself that my life still goes on just as my friends’ lives are, so I might as well make the most of where I am and the fun that I am able to have.
I still definitely get those waves of anxiety when I know my friends are having fun together while I’m back home, but my FOMO has gotten so much easier to handle when I remember that I too am having fun and that I will be having fun with them soon again