FOMO

 This is a common abbreviation among millennials which stands for 'Fear Of Missing Out. It has been in use for a very long time but lately, it feels like everyone is actually getting a hang of it. Just recently, I came across a post on Instagram which read as follows:

"At this time of a pandemic 

I don't know what's worse

this sense of being lost or the feeling that you are not doing enough."

And this got me thinking about how our lives have changed and how we have evolved in this time of difficulty. At this point, there are two types of lifestyles which people have resorted to:

There are the ones who have enjoyed all this time like they'll never get to experience this again(which is probably true) and for someone like me, this requires a lot of guts because I'm the kind of person who feels guilty on waking up after 10 am, even if I slept at 3 am. Most of these people have a sense of how hectic and chaotic our lives would get once the doctors come up with a vaccine. They are of the view that they are ready to give their 200% once this is over and they'll be able to because of this long vacation period. Now, the remaining of those in this category are the ones who are facing anxiety issues. It is genuine to be anxious in this time when you don't know what lies ahead. They feel lost and trust me when I say this, it's okay. Give yourself some time to absorb this current scenario. Some of you might think, "We've already had 8 months to absorb our situations, how can you still ask us to give it time?" My answer to this is that everyone has different coping mechanisms and not all of us can accept our lives without knowing what our future holds, so easily. Just try to take baby steps every day like before you sleep, make a to-do list. This list does not have to contain any major tasks like doing a course or learning a new language, rather it can consist of routine chores. For example, my today's to-do list includes:

• Arrange the clothes in your almirah
• Hair wash
• Write a blog
• Place an order on Amazon

Trust me doing just this simple thing will give you a sense of establishment and satisfaction when you delete that list from your notes every night after completing all the work. Gradually, you can add your assignment, submissions, and courses to the list. 

Now, about the second category of people, these are the ones who are always scared of not being enough. They've accomplished various tasks in this quarantine period, which they could never even imagine achieving if it wasn't for this pandemic. But there are so many more people involved in learning and doing new stuff that it feels like what they are doing might not be sufficient. Talking about myself, I've done a few short-term internships during this period, none of which were related to my field of study. So, even though I acquired some new skills, I don't think they would be relevant in getting me a good job because they are not even slightly related to what I should be doing. And this fear is really hard to overcome because, even though I am tired of handling the short-term internships along with my University evaluations and assignments, I still find myself searching for new internships on LinkedIn every other day (again, none related to my field of study). I know that all this sounds silly and even I feel like an overworked machine that is working just because its owner is not ready to get it repaired while writing about this. I tried taking a little break like I went to a mall some days back and spent a lovely time with my family but I was so guilt-ridden when I returned that sleep didn't come easy to me that night, regardless of how terribly tired I was. To the ones who are facing such similar issues, I would just like to say that it'll get better. Whenever you feel like you are not enough, compare the present version of yourself to your last year's version. This will make you realize how far you have come and how important it is to appreciate yourself sometimes. This is the best solution I could find for my FOMO. Do let me know if you can come up with any other solutions because I would love to try those. I'll like to conclude this by adding that it is okay to keep all your work aside and catch a break sometimes.