One of the things I hate is that I have really bad FOMO. If you don’t know what FOMO is, it’s the fear of missing out. Like most people, I like a good balance of going out and staying home. It’s easy for me to stay home since I’m more of a homebody but the comparison on social media makes it difficult. Every time I stay home, I see Snapchats of my friends having a good time and feel like I’m missing out on something fun. This was really hard for me at the beginning of college because I would force myself to go out even when I didn’t want to, just because I was so afraid I would miss out on something. I feared that I would miss a key event and all of my friends would become closer friends without me.
Then coronavirus and quarantine happened. I lived in the dorms when quarantine began, and like many others, I was sent home. At first, I still saw people hanging out with their friends, and I was sad that I was missing out on all of that due to being cautious. Once the virus got worse, I realized that I was glad I was missing out on parties and hangouts. I did not want to put myself and my loved ones at risk, and I realized the only thing I was missing out on was getting sick. I still saw my friends in outdoor and safe settings, but I no longer felt like I had to go out when I didn’t want to. If I saw people partying on Snapchat, I felt disgusted and not jealous, because they were the ones risking their lives during a pandemic. This stayed the same once I got back to college in the fall.
My roommates and I had to decide not to hang out with certain people that weren’t following the rules. This made my FOMO disappear as I followed safety protocol and guidelines. I find myself not caring if I’m missing out, because at least I am not putting my life at risk. Quarantine has been an emotional rollercoaster, but I’m happy that it has taught me lessons. My FOMO will probably return once quarantine ends, but I now realize that it’s not a bad thing to stay in and miss out.