FOMO (fear of missing out) is probably my #1 motivator and most nagging neurosis.
I’ll say yes to things I’m not that interested in just because I can’t handle the possibility of people I like having fun without me.
What’s that? My favorite friends will all be standing nude in a snowstorm, listening to live death metal and eating maggot stir-fry? Hmmm…they all RSVP’d yes? OK. What can I bring?
(One thing that trumps FOMO for me is the less-catchy FOHTFAO – Fear Of Having To Find An Outfit.)
When I say no to something, I wish it could just be canceled altogether so I didn’t have to worry about missing out. And I say no to a lot, because I refuse to miss my dance class. The earliest I can be shower-fresh on Wednesdays and Fridays is 9:30. By that time, everyone’s looking around for the waiter to get the check.
The best? When I say no, and then hear, “You didn’t miss ANYTHING. Be glad you didn’t go.”
When you find out the bus broke down.
Or nobody good showed up.
Or everyone was forced to do trust falls and there were no snacks and no bathrooms.
That’s when you experience the sweet relief that is GIMO, the feeling of Glad I Missed Out.
It’s the opposite of, and antidote to, the dreaded FOMO.
I had a preemo GIMO experience recently.
This month, we were invited to a REALLY expensive pop-up dinner thing with a world-famous Copenhagen chef in Tulum. Like, per person, the meal was more than the price of flights for two people (including Even More Legroom upgrades).
We kept saying, “Too much money.” But then wavering, “But it would be really fun to be there.”
We pictured being with the coolest people in the food world, including the friend who invited us. More than anything, it was about enjoying it with her. She and her husband live in San Francisco, and we don’t get to see them enough.
“Too much money” won out and we didn’t go.
Well, the friend who invited us was so sick, she stayed in her hotel room the whole time and didn’t make it to the dinner. We got text updates from her with several poo emojis.
I was sad for her. Seriously: vicariously disappointed and bummed.
But also…so satisfied for us!
“Can you imagine if we paid all that money to have that special dinner together and then have to go without her? We’d be SO. PISSED.” To high-five over our friend’s intestinal distress would’ve been evil, but we did give each other the “Phew, dodged a bullet” face.
That’s GIMO.
It’s a relief to have total confidence in a decision that was hard to make.
When it comes to should-I-or-shouldn’t-I, go-or-stay-home situations, So Happy I Did It (SHIDI) is the most gratifying outcome.
But second to that, I’ll take a nice case of GIMO any day.
Now you.
Do you battle with FOMO? Have you had a good GIMO incident lately?
TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS.
Hi Laura Loved this post. Laughed from start to finish. I often have FOBI and am happy that after the event reports make me GIMO.
I’ m experiencing a serious case of MO Laura because I just discovered your website and blog yesterday. The better part of today was spent reading your blog and laughing my head off.
I’m new to the blogging world – wanted to say blogosphere but I can hear your voice saying dumb and boring .
Will definitely be looking forward to you in my inbox.
The glad you brought this topic up. There are lots of times the answer should be a no because a yes would take you away from accomplishing the things you really want to do. If you’re trying to live intentionally this is a fairly easy decision and FOMO never creeps in. What I really despise lately is when copy is written to actually encourage a FOMO response. “If you don’t sign up by this time you’ll miss out….”. “This is your last chance..”. And the one that really angers me, “I gave you this opportunity and you didn’t sign up. Please take the time to provide us feedback on why.” I like GIMO if the opportunity doesn’t show the value to me that it will help me get to where I want to be. Thanks for the post.
I always have FOBI instead – Fear of Being Invited! I never want to be invited anywhere cos I don’t want to go anywhere. I never have FOMO and I always have GIMO.????
GIDMO on this blog. Another highlarious read!
OMG Lmfao Im me! or SMS Irdgas!
CDB ICDB RUOK IMOK IM2
bridge
wtares
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All OG can sing with me!
AMF (Spanglish)
Since I moved to NYC I’ve also been riddled with FOMO, which means I go to every networking event and self-improvement class under the sun. Just yesterday I was dreaming of an evening alone with wine and Big Little Lies—and a morning of GIMO would be the cherry on top for sure. 😛 😛 😛
Never! Unless it involves Laura Belgray and Marie Forleo (especially when paired up!!)! 🙂
FOHTFAO – Fear of Having to Find an Outfit leads to GIMO for me since it gets me off the hook for finding an outfit. 😀 I’m working on getting over my FOHTFAO because I certainly am MO on more than is good for me.
This was hilarious (all legs of it…IG intro, IG post, Blog intro, and actual Blog post!)
Now I have FONETTCUWSC (Fear of not enough time to come up with something clever)…omg…did I just spend 3 minutes making sure those letters are right?!
Gotta go….thanks for the laughs!
I never suffer from FOMO because I never want to go to anything anyway. Guess I am lucky that way.