Fear Of Missing Out (or FOMO to you and me)

I was introduced to this concept on Saturday night. A night out had been planned for weeks for about five of us, we were going to my friend Fran's house for drinks and then we'd go and paint South West London red. But when I got to Jen's, Chris was there. Now, you probably wouldn't consider this of any significance. Of course Chris was there - why wouldn't he be? Well, because he had, for the weeks prior to this particular Saturday night been telling us that he wouldn't be able to make it due to other commitments. I'd made my peace with this harsh reality, so I was surprised to see him there, in the flesh, drinking a cider and munching on pizza. 'How come you've managed to make it?' I asked. He told me that he was only staying for an hour because he didn't want to miss out. He also bandied the term FOMO into the mix. 'FOM-what?' As it turns out, Chris will happily traipse to one end of London from the other end to see us for an hour and then traipse into central for the rest of the evening, just so he doesn't miss out. Which is of course very lucky for us, because it's lovely to see him. Unfortunately (perhaps) this kind of selfless spreading-oneself-thin thing has long gone with me.

It has not always been the case though. Oh no. About five years ago I had similar FOMO during a music course. I stayed up all day and night, having about two hours sleep a night, for seven days, and I slightly cracked up. Once I had finally realised that nothing that amazing was going to happen in my absence, I finally crawled into my tent, exhausted, willing myself not to get into a similar situation again. I've since realised that if I'm not about for that bit of gossip or that bit of FUN, it doesn't really matter. There will be tons of gossip and FUN in my life - both of which will be a lot more satisfying with a few more hours of sleep. So now, if I am double, triple or quadruple booked I choose my favourite and sack everyone else off. And even if I'm not any of those kinds of booked up, I sometimes just listen to my inner-lazy and stay in and watch Come Dine With Me.

*I've changed the names, as 'Chris' is threatening me with legal action** if I don't.
**Not really. He did ask me to change his name though.