JOMO - The Joy of Missing Out
Most of us have heard of (and experienced) FOMO at some point. FOMO is the Fear of Missing Out and it strikes at the heart of modern life. We do things, attend things or buy things in order to avoid it, but there will always be things we miss out on, so why do we struggle with it so much?
A couple of weeks ago a friend of ours (Mr Andy McLean - friend of the show - you may know him from such episodes as Episode 124 of The Slow Home Podcast) sent us a photo of the above Leunig poem. It’s about as relevant to us as anything possibly could be, so Ben and I thought this would be a great topic to chat about on today’s poggie.
JOMO is the Joy of Missing Out and the antidote to FOMO. It’s the utter delight that is saying no and doing less and choosing to not compete in the Busy Olympics. JOMO is a breath of fresh air when it feels like we’re choking on the idea that in order to be successful we need to be constantly in motion, striving and chasing the life that will make others envious.
JOMO comes from a place of abundance (everything, right now, is enough) while FOMO comes from a place of scarcity (I’m scared that this will never be enough) and I think there is a very real and deep life lesson hidden in these dorky acronyms.
Ben and I talk through the difference between fear and joy in today’s episode as well as the many ways we can apply it in life. JOMO doesn’t only apply to the highlights we see of other people’s days, as they appear on Instagram or Facebook. JOMO can also apply to our stuff, busy-ness, excess, social media, comparisons, keeping up with the Joneses… In all of those areas of life we can joyfully choose to see that we have enough, after which saying no becomes a relief.
We also like to end most of these episodes with a thought or an action, and this week we encourage you to embrace the idea of JOMO. Rather than worry about what you don’t have or what you’re missing out on by saying no, dive head-first into it!
Enjoy!
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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:
- Same, same, but different - Episode 124 with Andy McLean