JOMO.

While scrolling through my twitter feed this morning, I came across an blog post that captured my attention.  It was written by Ruby Warrington, a British lifestyle writer, and talked about her old life as an editor for a high-end fashion magazine and how it all changed when she became a freelance writer.  What could have been a sad story about how her life became less fulfilling then became inspirational.   Ruby referenced an article by the Huffington Post about the term FOMO-fear of missing out-took over social media in 2013.  The term implies that we feel compelled to say yes to everything because we have this fear that something will happen if we don't.  In college, this applies to so much: getting involved, meeting people, making decisions, taking classes, going out, etc.  But then she continued with a new term that opened my mind up to something new.

The Huffington Post has declared 2014 to be the year of the JOMO-joy of missing out-and I realized how even more practical it really is.  With JOMO, people are exploring a new shift where staying home is the ideal in terms of our own personal satisfaction.  In its most basic form, JOMO is showing us who we want to be and how we can find our own happiness.  What I love most about JOMO is that it is teaching us to pause, take a look back on what truly matters, and be grateful.

JOMO describes my own personal situation very accurately.  In the same month that I was bogged down with pneumonia, I've had more time to focus on what makes me happy and people who lift me up.  And if JOMO is a study in mindfulness, being aware that maybe I am not supposed to be anywhere but here now, then building a stronger, more assertive attitude and rejecting those internal feelings of rejection in times of hurt have given me the tools to witness a difference.  I do not have fear, I have joy.  And I have learned to discover the difference.

To that I say so long, FOMO.  Here's to a year where joy can replace fear and I can find happiness in what I truly love.  No missing out required.