Clarity On Fire

For most of my life, I suffered from pretty extreme FOMO (fear of missing out). My parents will tell you that up until the time I was 7 or 8, I would never admit to being tired — and not just out of normal childlike stubbornness, but because I was terrified that if I took a nap or went to bed early, I’d miss out on something fun. The FOMO didn’t go away as I got older; it just evolved to focus more on my friendships and school. I hated taking a sick day from school because I was afraid I’d miss out on some inside joke with my friends or miss a crucial lesson in one of my classes and fall behind. I said “yes” to pretty much every social invitation I got while I was in school and through most of college, even though I’m more of an introvert and it often totally exhausted me. Once I got out of school and into the “real world,” my FOMO evolved again, this time into anxiety around whether I was in the right career. Since I had no direction for a while and a serious “grass-is-greener” complex, I was always explorin