#FOMO

Happy Monday!

The first day of the week is always the hardest. For me, it feels like all the problems I have get magnified on Monday, because I have to stick to a routine and go to work.

When I'm bored at work, I do tend to scroll through Instagram, and to be honest, everyone else always seems to have such cool pictures from their weekend adventures with lots of friends, and I begin to feel sad and lonely.

As a huge introvert, I like to just curl up under a blanket and read a book, sit in a nice cafe and work on things, or find a pretty little secluded place to explore. Meetings with friends are best when they're one-on-one at a little quiet restaurant, and then spending some time at a cafe working together on our irrespective projects and have light chit-chat. I think I am pretty good at fitting into a large group, and I can enjoy the presence of others, but I get so drained. Plus, I'm horrible at creating conversation, so I really have no reason to feel jealous of people who hang out with a large group of friends. I prefer a much more intimate setting, anyways, The fear of missing out, or FOMO, is a real thing. It makes us jealous of others, and feel like we are somehow inadequate. But really, that's not true at all! We all put our best foot forward on social media!

I'm still learning to get out of the thought that everyone's picture perfect life is not actually reality. There is always so much that goes into a picture (and I would know!) that we don't realize. I mean, I have run in a faux leather jacket for a mile to catch a sunset before, and I probably smelled really bad by the time I got back on the subway. I've also had a complete workout, jumping maybe about twenty times before I got up into a tree to take a photo from a nice angle. To others, it might seem like "WOW, YOU GET TO TRAVEL AROUND SO MUCH", but it's not really the full story. They don't know about being stuck on a subway and getting a panic attack on the way home. They don't know about getting lost on the streets of Frankfurt and being too gil-chi (what is the English word for this?) to read a map. They don't know about my wallet crying over a $40 simple meal that really should have cost $15. They don't know about the pounding headaches in Denver due to high altitude (I know, shouldn't flight attendants be immune?). They don't know about getting stuck in the middle of Seoul without a spare battery for my phone. I love travelling, but travelling is stressful for everyone and anyone, regardless of experience and occupation. Of course, that doesn't really get shown on social media. While others may have a FOMO complex while looking through my photos, I too, feel the same when scrolling through others'.

We are in a society of constantly sharing all of the great things we have in our lives, and we are all so consumed with an idea of perfection. In the end, we hide all of our brokenness on the inside, because we feel like it will make others think less of us, or that no one will care. Maybe this fear we have is really a reflection of how we see others' struggles; why else would we be afraid of others thinking these things of us? Maybe we need to stop judging others, so that we won't be afraid of getting judged. I know that this is true of myself, because I feel like I know the "right" way of doing things, but it's not always the only way. I hope that this blog can be a safe space for everyone to share their not-so-picture-perfect lives, because our lives are perfect even if they don't look great on Instagram. Our lives have been uniquely authoured by God, and He has put perfect people, perfect situations, perfect events, and perfect struggles in our lives, so that we can all be dynamic, main characters.

What are some things that you have always been afraid to share? :)