FOMO

Fear Of Missing Out by Alicja Wladyslawska   

There have been many things that I’ve sadly missed out on throughout this pandemic. I had a grand year planned ahead – the second-to-last year of high school, tons upon tons of trips organised well ahead of time, and lots of outings with friends. Now I'm stuck with a mask on my face typing articles on my computer after starting my very last year of high school.  

I’ve missed out on so much, it felt as though a chunk of my life was ripped out right in front of me by some abstract being. But I’m not alone in knowing that this is a universal experience and that we’re all in this together. So what did we all collectively miss out on? How different would we all be if this pandemic did not happen? How can we get over our FOMO?  

Making no progress

I have personally suffered from missing out on a lot of things, especially as a result of this pandemic. Ranging from small meetings to week-long courses or events, everything was cancelled and I felt like I was making no progress in life when I should be doing many different things. I was always very passionate about music and playing with other people in ensembles and orchestras, but as a result of lockdown we were all moved to remote learning. I found this sudden switch very hard to bear, as all the fun in music was gone and we had to tire ourselves out with making recordings and adjusting to fully working from home. It was probably the thing that impacted me the most this past year, although I still try to find things in music that still make me feel happy. 

School life was also something that also changed drastically and seemed like it was something I was missing out on. Prior to starting senior school, I was convinced that the years ahead will be very busy and enjoyable, with lots of freedom to do things I haven’t done before and to get a taste of what adulthood would be like. However, when stuck in my own house, I felt extremely restricted and alone. I’m an extrovert, and enjoy spending time with other people, so being alone all the time felt really overwhelming and depressing. What I expected to be a year of new friendships and adventures turned out to be a year of challenges and isolation.  

Persevere and stay strong

If there was one thing I could say in general about the whole population at this time, it would be that I am proud of them. Even despite all the mistakes that we made, we all managed to persevere and stay strong even throughout the roughest of times in this world. We have missed out on a lot of things – major world events and milestones that we may never get back – but we have managed to get so far, so we should not give up and continue on fighting. There is no eternal suffering; the sun will always come out after a storm.