December 13, 2020

For sure you have opened this article because you thought that it is about the FOMO thingy in crypto. But no it's not.

Have you ever experienced having that feeling of Fear Of Missing Out or what we call FOMO?

As I was scanning my social media account, I saw the timelines of my former colleagues and batchmates having a better life than me. They can have vacations abroad, already have their own house and lot, a brand new car, and do whatever they want. But looking at myself, I am way too far behind from them. I can't call it a simple envious as the feeling was different. I suddenly thought it's FOMO. And I felt like I am missing out on something fundamentally important that others are currently having.

So what is Fear Of Missing Out?

The fear of missing out or FOMO is that deep sense of feeling that others are living better lives, having more fun, or getting better things than you are. It is really a case that is increasingly common and causes a significant impact on our lives, affecting our happiness, and leading to stress and even depression.

Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram often provoked the FOMO feeling. It affects our self-esteem and involves the sense of hopelessness that you are really missing out on something important. FOMO and social media habits often contribute to a negative, self-perpetuating cycle.

Whether you admit it or not, there are times in our life that we have that sense of deep envious and we feel like we are not contented with what we have especially if we didn't meet our expectations that lower the feeling of life satisfaction. The feeling that even though we did everything, it's still not enough to get the feeling of satisfaction, because we got the fear of missing out.

But how can we minimize that feeling of being FOMO?

It's quite absurd that I first thought of deleting all my social media accounts just to avoid reading those kinds of provoking FOMO stories. But then, it is not enough and not the right solution to overcome the fear of missing out. And aside from it, social media is my only way to communicate with my family and relatives, so it's not really a rational solution.

According to verywellmind,
understanding the root of the problem can be a great first step in overcoming FOMO. The following may help;

• CHANGE YOUR FOCUS

The reason why I am more active on read.cash than any other social media is because I don't want to see posts and stories about things that I don't have. But sometimes I can't keep myself to visit my Facebook account to check on my family and friends. There is actually nothing wrong with that for as long as you know how to divert negative things immediately.

To minimize FOMO while browsing our social media account, we should know how to change focus and this is the thing that I must always apply to myself. Instead of focusing on what we don't have, why not notice what we have?

We can also try to hide people who are triggering our FOMO and add positive people or stories to our feed that can help boost our joy online. And learn on identifying what factors are weakening your happiness online. Work on this aspect to prevent from having fear of missing out while browsing on our social media accounts.

• KEEP A JOURNAL

We usually post on our social media accounts about the fun things we do or new places we have visited. Instead of sharing our new memories online, why not keep them in our journal?

I might consider continuing my journal if this will help me minimize my FOMO. Keeping a journal can actually help us to change our focus from public approval to private appreciation of the things that make our life better. And this change can sometimes enable us to get out of FOMO-provoking social media posts. The best memories can be kept in just simple pads of paper.

• SEEK OUT REAL CONNECTIONS

It is really common that every time we feel anxious or depressed, we seek greater connections and that is through social media. Especially if we are far from our family just like in my case. However, connecting to social media is not always the way to achieve this.

Rather than trying to connect with people on social media, it is best to meet a friend or someone in person. Someone that will help us alleviate the feeling of being anxious or depressed.

Having social interaction with friends and other group of people can be a change of pace and puts us in the center of the action. And most importantly, it can shake off that fear of missing out.

• FOCUS ON GRATITUDE

It might be easier said than done but focusing on the blessings we already have will make us happier than noticing what we lack in life. I always mentioned this in some of my articles but seems that I am forgetting this important aspect of life.

Appreciating simple things in life or even making other people happy make us feel good too and this holds true. They said that it can lift our spirits as well as those of people around us.

Maybe boosting our mood is the only thing we need to relieve that feeling of anxiety or depression. It may help us not to be trapped in social media black hole and FOMO if we realized that we already have much in life compared to unfortunate people in the world - the street people, the orphans, the abused ones, and the real ones who have nothing in life but a dirty pair of clothes.

Fear of missing out is a common feeling among people of all ages with different levels of FOMO at different times in our lives. If you feel like suffering from FOMO, try to seek real connections to important people in your life and have time to reflect on things that you are grateful for in your life.

This will help us acquire a greater sense of belonging and eliminate the problem of "missing out" on anything.

Since we are talking about FOMO here, I wanna share my first FOMO experience in crypto trading.
FOMO in trading is the feeling when you see a big green percentage growth on a chart of your idle crypto so you sell your other crypto just to buy it freaking out.

Do you remember the time when the BCH reaches its highest price of $350? I thought it will go higher to $400 and since I can not send out my stablecoins, I decided to swap it all to BCH not even thinking about the possible drop after that price hike. After that day, BCH price severely plunges down and I regretted swapping all my stablecoins to BCH.

Lesson? Do not put all eggs in one basket. It actually means do not put all your crypto in one wallet for some reason and it could also mean do not invest all your money in one crypto.

I should have the stablecoins to buy BCH when its price is so low but I can't because of that FOMO experience. It is really better to always have stablecoins in your wallet because when the time comes that your idle crypto is at its lowest price, you have the coin to buy it.

A lesson learned in crypto trading. 😁

Have a blessed Sunday.

Thanks for reading @Jane

Lead image from irishtimes.com

I republished this article, just check my short post about it