Sometimes I feel like there’s a constant hum of anxiety running through our world. 

Maybe it’s because we’re the generation of instant news, constant communication, and instant gratification. We have more ways to ‘connect, share, and listen’ than ever before.

Maybe it’s because we’re so much more aware of all the things we’re missing out on than ever before? Everyone is showing off more of the best parts of their life than ever before and we’re all watching them.  

Or, maybe it’s always been like this. Maybe living in the fear of missing out has always been around, and we all get to choose whether we want to spend all our time trying to live someone else’s life, or spend our time living our own.

Regardless, I know I’ve felt it. I’ve felt that constant hum in my head.

I’ve felt it in the form of ‘keeping up’: 

“Make sure that you make yourself known or you’ll become irrelevant. Be quick. Be constant. Be loud.”

I’ve felt it in the form of ‘missing out’:

”Make sure you do this. If you’re not on this or that platform doing this or that, you’ll ‘miss out.’ You’ll become irrelevant. This is just what you ‘have to’ do in order to get there. There’s no other way.”

… But I would also ask, what happens when our message isn’t clear? What happens when we first need to first step back and ‘reconstruct’ ourselves, our views, our beliefs? What about the times when don’t really know who we are? During these times are we supposed to ‘keep up?’ If we don’t shout loudly and with enough frequency, will we not be heard? Will we be forgotten? Will we ‘miss out?’ 

During these times in our lives, what exactly are we even shouting? What exactly are we missing out on? And why are we in such a rush to share a message that we ourselves are not even quite sure of the meaning? 

How can we possibly ‘be in the present moment,’ when we live in constant fear of ‘missing out?’

Where are we running and why are we running so fast?

These are the questions I had to ask myself before I started planning my trip. I realized that I had been living with a fear of missing out. Ironically, this is the thing that made me miss out on the most. We have to accept that we can’t hold everything. We have to let go of some things, and we have to ‘miss out’ on some things in order to move forward and be most present in our lives. 

Sometimes we have to give something up in order to find a better us. Sometimes we have to walk in faith into a future that’s a little unclear. 

Maybe you’re in a similar season. Maybe you’re not sure where you’re ‘supposed to be,’ but you’re doing everything in your power to ‘keep up,’ doing everything you can to make sure that you don’t ‘miss out.’ 

If so, why?