I 'd always believed myself to be generally immune to FOMO, or the fear of missing out. After all, I'd often feel a sweet rush when plans were cancelled, or find myself feeling depleted when I'd had too many social events with not enough downtime. When lockdown happened, however, FOMO took on a new meaning - we all felt we were missing out on fun social occasions and daily interactions with friends and family. It highlighted that our time is precious, and best spent with those we love.
So, post-lockdown, I felt I should be living my best life pretty much all the time. I'd missed out on experiences and once the world opened up again, I felt a pressure to 'seize the day'. I was left on edge if I said no to anything, as though I could be turning down something that I may never get back. Clinical psychologist and author Dr Emma Hepburn tells me, 'FOMO can lead to us overcommitting, as we don't want to miss opportunities, resulting in committing to things we don't actually want to do.' Instead of looking forward to all the events and activities I'd planned, I began to dread them, viewing them as obligations. But Dr Hepburn says this way of doing things, 'creates stress, makes us feel inadequate compared to others, and doesn't enable us to have sufficient downtime, all of which can impact on our wellbeing.'
This story is from the September 2022 edition of Psychologies UK.
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This story is from the September 2022 edition of Psychologies UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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