Has anyone ever experienced the stress of FOMO? The
cognitive dissonance experienced when you really don’t want to miss out on
seeing Barbara take down ten jagerbombs in Magaluf and then attempt to win a twerking
competition by awkwardly thrusting the air whilst screaming #YOLO…
but at the
same time you’d much rather be cuddled up in your Christmas onesie with your
dog and bingewatching another Netflix Original series.
FOMO happens to me on a weekly basis. Of course, I want to
go out and be a social butterfly. I want to dress up and transform myself into “Weekend
Lucy”(it’s kind of like my drag queen alter ego, except my make-up looks shit, and unlike me most drag queens can last in a pair of six-inch stilettos).
Living in a city makes it so much harder when there are so many fun events and
opportunities to take up and although I’m all for trying new things and
socialising, sometimes we just need to slow things down and remember it’s ok to
say no to doing something. The reason I bring this up, is because as of late I
have felt exhausted and it’s a constant battle trying to balance work and
trying to have a social life too.
Over the years, I’ve found it seems to be impressive, if you
tell people how busy you are and all the events you have planned. It makes you
seem like you have “purpose”. Purpose seems to be a major thing for people to
have, particularly in their 20s. When someone asks you, “What are you doing
with yourself?”, “Where do you plan to be in the next few years?”, “Do you
still live at home?”. All these questions, yet what they are really asking is
how much do you have your shit together. I for one, am happy to admit that I
don’t know what I am doing with my life. I have no idea what I will be doing in
five years’ time. And do you know what? I like it, I like not knowing what will
happen with my future. It makes me feel like anything could be possible. All I
know is what I’m passionate about right now, one of those things is this blog.
I turn 24 next month and it only feels like yesterday that I
was a fresh-faced 18 year-old with bright, bleach blonde hair dancing away, with
my main worry being about whether all my friends would get into the bar with me
when they forgot their IDs. I will not mention names. These days, I feel there is pressure to save
for a mortgage, buy a house, be dating or in a relationship, be in a career,
have a degree. And that’s a lot of pressure for one person to have.
I guess the take-home message for me is do what makes you
happy. I’m enjoying life at the moment and I don’t think I’ve achieved any of
the above. Now that’s not me bashing people who have bought their own homes,
that takes discipline and it is impressive, but it’s not everyone’s idea of
happiness. People can get too caught up about worrying about how their future
will be shaped that they forget to live for the now. Do things that make you
feel empowered, passionate and smile. Want to go to that pole dancing class? GO
FOR IT. Want to go to see that film no-one else wants to see? DO IT AND TREAT
YOURSELF TO AN EXTRA LARGE TANGO ICEBLAST. Or maybe you just want to sit in and read a good book? THATS FINE TOO, I RECOMMEND KAFKA ON THE SHORE FYI. I think you get my point and I’ll
finish with a quote of one of my favourite writers when I was a child, Roald Dahl, “If you have good thoughts,
they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely”.
I just love GIFs ok?
Thanks for reading
Lucy x
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